Man Accused of Selling Phony IDs to Hijackers Leaves U.S.

WASHINGTON —  A New Jersey man who allegedly sold fake documents to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers left the country in recent days as authorities were preparing to arrest him Wednesday and search his house and office, police said.

Mohamad El Atriss faces fraud charges for operating a fake document business that sold identification cards to buyers in New Jersey, California, Florida and other states, authorities said.

Among his customers, according to Passaic County, N.J., Sheriff Jerry Speziale, were Khalid Almihdhar and Abdulaziz Alomari, who are suspected of being on two commercial jetliners that were hijacked and flown into the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

El Atriss is suspected of selling Almihdhar a “U.S. identification card” and Alomari an international driver’s license--even though neither document officially exists, Speziale said.

As Passaic County sheriff’s officials prepared to execute search warrants in Paterson and Elizabeth, N.J., on Wednesday, El Atriss called an employee from overseas. He is believed to have taken a plane to Egypt on Tuesday or Wednesday, apparently for a business trip, Speziale said. He is believed to be a native of Egypt.

“We’re disappointed,” Speziale said in an interview.

Speziale said authorities had no indication that El Atriss knew of the two hijackers’ intentions. Even so, Speziale said, providing terrorists with false documents, even unwittingly, only helps them commit criminal acts.

“Once it gets into the hands of someone involved in a criminal organization, it’s a problem,” he said of fake documentation.

Interpol has been notified, and authorities are searching for El Atriss so that he can be questioned. Speziale said police seized evidence from El Atriss’ home and office, including dozens of fake IDs that sold for as much as $800 each and other indications of a large-scale fraud operation.

Three of El Atriss’ employees were arrested on suspicion of manufacturing and distributing fraudulent documents and conspiracy, Speziale said.

El Atriss could not be reached for comment. But an FBI official said a preliminary investigation determined that El Atriss not only lacked any foreknowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks but hadn’t broken any federal laws because the identification cards included disclaimers that they were not official.

Also on Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that non-U.S. citizens captured in Afghanistan and held at the detention center at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have no right to demand a trial in a U.S. court.

Specifically, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington dismissed two lawsuits brought on behalf of two British citizens, an Australian and 12 Kuwaiti nationals who have protested their detention by the U.S. military.

Another federal judge in New York on Wednesday questioned why President Bush was named in court papers seeking the immediate release of Jose Padilla, the alleged Al Qaeda operative accused of plotting with others to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States.

Padilla, 31, also is being held in military custody. A lawyer for Padilla told U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey that Bush should be a party to the case because he declared Padilla an “enemy combatant” and because he acted illegally in ordering that he be held in military custody. Justice Department lawyers said Bush should be left out of the case.