FBI arrest man as witness

Published 9:00 pm Friday, September 14, 2001

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities made the first arrest Friday in the worldwide investigation of this week’s terrorist attacks, apprehending a suspect in New York they believe may have relevant information, government officials said.

The suspect was arrested on a material witness warrant, the Justice Department said. It was issued after authorities determined the individual had information highly relevant to the investigation and was likely to flee, one official said.

Officials declined to identify the suspect or say what information they were seeking.

It was the first break in the investigation that has spanned the globe. The FBI has received more than 36,000 leads and has issued hundreds of subpoenas. It released the identities Friday of the 19 hijackers.

Authorities said they were still investigating whether more terrorists might be at large. They were searching for 100 people they want to question in connection with Tuesday’s devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, declined to discuss what he had learned from intelligence briefings but said he feared cities may still remain in danger.

"You’ve got to assume there was probably more planned, maybe for the aftershock," Shelby said.

On that front, the FBI provided warnings to two Southeast cities — Richmond, Va., and Atlanta — that information developed since Tuesday’s attacks suggested terrorists may have had plans for attacks in those cities, law enforcement officials said.

But late Friday, further investigation left officials doubtful of the threat.

"I’m not discounting it totally, but there’s nothing specific about it," said Gary McConnell, director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. "I’m not getting any more alarmed since I knew about it last night than prior to knowing about it."

The information came from an acquaintance of one of the hijackers, law enforcement officials said. The information was shared with the cities, but the witness failed a lie-detector test Friday evening, suggesting his account was not credible, the officials said.

A list of more than 100 people has been distributed to thousands of local police departments, the Federal Aviation Administration, border patrols and FBI field offices, said Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Ashcroft appealed to the public for information about the 19 persons identified as hijackers on the four planes by calling 866-483-5137. The Justice Department had originally said there were 18 hijackers, but then ascertained that five hijackers, not four, were on American Airlines Flight 77, which hit the Pentagon.

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