27 September 2001
Justice Department Releases Photographs of 19 Suspected Hijackers
(Ashcroft, Mueller remarks at September 27 press conference) (730)
By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) Director George Mueller, at a joint news
conference September 27, released to the public photographs of the 19
persons believed to have hijacked the commercial airliners that
crashed September 11 into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in
rural Pennsylvania.
"It is our hope that the release of these photos will prompt others
who may have seen the hijackers or been on contact with them to
contact the FBI with any information they may have that would be
helpful to the investigation," Ashcroft said. The photos can be
viewed at http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/penttbom/penttbomb.htm.
Mueller said the photographs have helped investigators across the
nation and across the world "uncover information related to the
hijackers and their potential associates. And we are releasing the
pictures to the public at this time in the hopes that they will lead
to further advances in the investigation."
He asked anyone "who has information based upon these photographs to
contact our FBI immediately, either through our toll- free hotline,
which is 1-866-483-5137 -- again, 1-866-483-5137 -- or through our Web
site, which is at www.ifccfbi.gov."
Mueller said that "we've had over 100,000 tips on our Web site and our
hotline. We actually have in excess of 200,000 leads that we are
currently investigating.
The photographs, he said, may have come from passports, a driver's
license obtained in the United States, or other identification
documents. "Consequently, these photographs we've identified with the
individuals whose names appear on the manifests," of the airplanes.
"What we are currently doing is determining whether when these
individuals came to the United States these were their real names, or
they changed their names for use with false identification in the
United States; that false identification being used up to and on the
day of September 11th, and that false identification used to purchase
the tickets, and thereby being the name on the manifests of the planes
that went down."
The investigation, Mueller said, "has reached out to a number of
countries to determine whether or not these individuals definitively,
and the photographs we have here, and the names associated with these
photographs, are the actual identities of the individuals prior to the
time they came to the United States."
Asked whether any of these 19 people are connected to terrorist
groups, including Osama bin Laden, Mueller responded that "We believe
that one or more of them do have contacts with al Qaeda."
The primary focus of law enforcement, he said, "in addition to
bringing to justice those responsible for the attacks on September
11th, is on preventing potential future attacks. We are working hard
to identify and locate associates of the hijackers who may pose a
threat to this nation."
Mueller also said that federal indictments have been returned on two
hate crime investigations related to attacks on Arab- or
Muslim-Americans.
"These indictments were based on FBI investigations in the Salt Lake
City and Seattle field offices, and these indictments are proof that
those who attempt to take out their anger and frustration on innocent
Americans will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of
the law," Mueller said.
He added that since the September 11 attacks, "we've initiated
approximately 90 hate crime investigations across the country in over
30 FBI field offices, and we remain committed to working with the
various Arab-American, Muslim-American, and Sikh-American communities
to assure that any such acts are vigorously investigated and
prosecuted."
Mueller said that earlier September 27 he had met "with key leaders of
the Arab-American, Muslim-American and Sikh-American communities, and
we addressed issues of mutual concern and discussed ways which we
could together address those concerns.
"I want to today acknowledge the outpouring of support and cooperation
that the FBI has received from these communities, not only in the
course of our investigation, but in response to our call last week for
translators. We literally were inundated with volunteers from any one
of the Arab-American, Muslim-American and Sikh-American communities.
And I want to thank those communities for their assistance in this
regard as well as their assistance in our investigations."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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