Pubdate: Fri, 26 Oct 2001
Source: The Herald-Sun (NC)
Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Sun
Contact:  http://www.herald-sun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428
Author: Angela K Brown (AP)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

PAIR BELIEVED TO HAVE TERROR INFO

FORT WORTH, Texas -- With trembling hands and sweaty brows, the two men 
questioned by narcotics officers aboard an Amtrak train Sept. 12 were 
behaving like typical drug suspects, police said.

But when box cutters, hair dye, various passports and nearly $5,600 in cash 
were found in the men's luggage, officers suspected Mohammed Jaweed Azmath 
and Ayub Ali Khan could be linked to the terrorist attacks just one day 
earlier.

"These guys were very cordial, polite and consented to a search of any 
items and their pockets. They were nervous, but I probably would have been, 
too, if officers came aboard my train," Sgt. Brad S. Johnson said Thursday.

On Sept. 11, Azmath and Khan boarded a plane in Newark, N.J., bound for San 
Antonio. The jet was diverted to St. Louis as flights were grounded.

The men then paid cash in St. Louis for train tickets and police were 
tipped off that they might be drug couriers, Johnson said. When their train 
stopped in Fort Worth on Sept. 12, undercover officers boarded and found 
the men asleep in different cars.

Azmath said he was born in India but had been living in the United States 
and working at a newsstand for about $300 a week, Johnson said. The two men 
told police they planned to visit a friend in San Antonio, but one said 
they would stay a week and the other said the visit would last a month, 
police said.

When officers called the travel plans suspicious, Azmath said, "I did not 
have anything to do with New York," according to the report.

Azmath and Khan are imprisoned in New York as material witnesses. Law 
enforcement officials have told The Associated Press they believe the men 
have information relevant to the terrorist attacks.

The FBI has also said authorities may run anthrax tests on items from the 
men's Jersey City, N.J., apartment, which reportedly contained magazine 
articles about bioterrorism.
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