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European officials arrest several in U.S. attacks
Charges made against man who was flying to Chicago on Sept. 11

By Karen Gullo / Associated Press

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   WASHINGTON -- As the terror investigation proceeded with arrests overseas, federal prosecutors disclosed Friday they charged a man with trying to fly into Chicago with an illegal passport and airline uniforms on the day of the suicide hijackings.
   In a criminal complaint unsealed in Illinois, prosecutors said Nageeb Abdul Jabar Mohamed Al-Hadi was flying aboard a German airliner on Sept. 11 when it was grounded in Toronto as a result of the attacks. He remains detained in Canada.
   Al-Hadi, a contract employee for Lufthansa, was traveling with a ticket under a different name and was carrying three passports from Yemen, the criminal complaint said. He was charged Sept. 14 with possessing and attempting to use a false passport.
   In his luggage, investigators found two Lufthansa crew uniforms, at least one identification card and paper with Arabic writing, the complaint said.
   Investigators want to question Al-Hadi but have no information that he is linked to the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. U.S. officials have 60 days to seek extradition.
   At the same time, U.S. intelligence agencies are collaborating on a report that details the evidence linking Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi multimillionaire, to the attacks, a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. It's unclear if that report will be made public.
   The charges came as European authorities made several arrests and issued warrants and the Justice Department disclosed that many of the Middle Eastern immigrants detained in the United States since the attacks had entered the country illegally or overstayed visas.
   Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller visited the scene of devastation in New York, and were moved by its magnitude. "When you think of 6,000 souls who were lost here it is very difficult to grasp the enormity of the loss," Mueller said.
   Officials nationwide continued their heightened vigilance against new terrorist attacks.
   "I don't want to scare people or put fear in the minds of people, but this is very serious business. It's not a matter of if, but when," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., after attending an intelligence briefing on Capitol Hill.
   Ashcroft declined to discuss any potential targets, but said the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon showed "we have a vulnerability to which we should be attentive but to which we should not yield."
   The investigation made gains across the globe.
   In London, authorities arrested three men and one 25-year-old woman in connection with the World Trade Center attack, and they were being questioned by anti-terrorist police, Scotland Yard said.
   French authorities arrested seven people in connection with an alleged plot to harm U.S. sites in that country.
   German prosecutors issued arrest warrants for Ramzi Binalshibh, 29, of Yemen, and Said Bahaji, 26, a German of Moroccan origin, in connection with the Sept. 11 plot.
   Both are suspected of helping plot the attacks on New York and Washington with three hijackers who lived for a time in Hamburg, Germany, prosecutor Kay Nehm said. He said they are being sought on charges of forming a terrorist organization and at least 5,000 counts of murder.
   In Washington, the Justice Department released documents involving 33 of the 80 people taken into custody by immigration authorities.
   The names of those detained were blacked out from the documents. Their native countries included Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, Jordan, India, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
   A handful of the detainees came to the United States in the days around the attacks. One from Syria entered the country illegally through Canada three days before the attack. Another, an Indian who entered Chicago as a ship crewman, arrived the day before the attacks.
   Department officials have said they believe some of those detained may have information about the plot for the attacks or about the 19 suspected hijackers.
   Some are cooperating. None has been charged with a crime directly related to the attacks.
   Meanwhile, authorities and a lawyer confirmed a Saudi man was arrested the day of the attacks in suburban Washington, near Dulles International Airport where one of the planes was hijacked. That plane later crashed into the Pentagon.
   Attorney Drewry B. Hutcheson Jr. said his client, Khalid al Draibi, was stopped while driving with a flat tire near Manassas, Va.
   "He was arrested for allegedly making a false statement that he was a U.S. citizen. He later told the FBI investigators who spoke to him that he was a Saudi Arabian citizen," Hutcheson said. He said his client remained in detention.
   Hutcheson said said his client has denied any role in the terrorist attacks. "We would like for them (government officials) to know who he is and that they have no further need to worry about him," Hutcheson said.
   Authorities investigated whether one of the suspected hijackers attempted to purchase the official Air Force magazine from the Government Printing Office about two months before the attacks.
   Andrew Sherman, a GPO spokesman, said a man using a name similar to Mohamed Atta used a "bounced credit card" to try to purchase the magazine "Airmen" back in July using an address in Egypt.
   In other developments:
   -- Three men arrested in Detroit at a home with false IDs, information on a U.S. military base and airports present a flight risk and should be detained, a U.S. magistrate ordered. Karim Koubriti, 23, Ahmed Hannan, 33, and Farouk Ali-Haimoud, 21, are charged with identity fraud; fraud and misuse of visas, passports and other documents; and conspiracy to commit those crimes.
   -- In northern Kentucky, authorities detained at least 25 people on potential immigration charges during six searches, the FBI said. The search warrants and affidavits were sealed and the FBI would provide no further information.
   -- Atta, one of the suspected hijackers, apparently stayed at a Las Vegas motel around the corner from the FBI's office. A man using Atta's named checked in June 29 at the Econo Lodge, checked out July 1 and returned Aug. 13, the motel owner said.
   -- French police arrested seven people Friday in an investigation into alleged plans to attack U.S. interests in France. The arrests were linked to a French-Algerian man who was arrested in July and told French intelligence of alleged plans to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris and other U.S. targets, police said.