By Ken Ritter
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS – A man believed to be one of the hijackers in last week’s terrorist attacks had stayed at a Las Vegas motel just around the corner from the FBI’s office, the motel owner said.
A man using the name Mohamed Atta checked in June 29 at the Econo Lodge, motel owner James Magar said Thursday. Magar said the man checked out July 1, then returned Aug. 13.
Magar said that after the attacks, FBI agents showed the man’s photo to him, a desk clerk and other employees at the 120-room motel, which is less than 1,000 feet from the FBI’s Las Vegas office.
“He looked like a normal businessman,” Magar said. “He blended in so well. His name stuck out, but his face didn’t.”
The hotel’s registration receipts showed the man had a Florida driver’s license, a 1968 birth date and an address in Coral Springs, Fla.
FBI agent Daron Borst in Las Vegas would not discuss specifics. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas also declined to comment.
Authorities have identified Mohamed Atta, 33, an Egyptian urban planner, as a leader in the Sept. 11 hijackings of four airliners that crashed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
FBI agents have distributed a terrorist watch list to Las Vegas hotel-casinos and questioned people who share those names. At least one Las Vegas man also has the name Mohamed Atta.
Magar told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the FBI on Monday seized motel computer and telephone records from Atta’s stays.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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