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IP: Shoe Bomber


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 16:15:21 -0500


From: "RV Head" <4whp () home com>

Subject: Shoe Bomber

E-mail ties Richard Reid to Pakistan

Investigators find digital clues; Yahoo, Hotmail asked to help
In this court drawing by an artist, Richard Reid is seen Friday addressing
the judge to enter a plea of not guilty. Cameras are not being allowed in
the coutroom.

 NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES

Jan. 19 -  In e-mails apparently sent by shoe-bomb suspect Richard Reid
before he boarded a Paris-Miami flight, he indicated he would be destroying
an airplane and, after being thwarted from boarding an earlier flight, asked
one recipient in Pakistan if he should "go again." The mail was found on the
hard drives of computers used by the 28-year-old Briton while he was in
Paris, French news media reported Saturday.

        COMPUTER EXPERTS were able to retrieve the data off hard drives from
computers used by Reid, Europe 1 Radio and the newspaper La Provence
reported Saturday.

      Europe 1 reporter Frederic Helbert provided the greatest detail,
telling NBC News that French sources said the e-mails so far showed that:

 A few hours after Reid missed a Paris-Miami flight on Dec. 21, he sent
e-mail to a Pakistani address from the business center of the Copthorne
Hotel, where American Airlines had put him up after tight security prevented
Reid from making the flight. In that e-mail he told the recipient of the
difficulty of boarding and asks, "Should I go again?" An e-mail was sent
back to Reid that said, "Yes, go again."
 Reid sent an email - a testament of sorts - to several mosques in England
and Belgium. He sent a similar mail to his mother and claimed responsibility
for the destruction of an airplane but did not say who he was working for.

 He wrote that he was a "martyr for the Islamic cause" and asked his mother
to convert to Islam.

ACCOUNTS IN EUROPE, PAKISTAN
       Upon arriving in Paris, Reid created an e-mail address from a
computer kiosk in a subway station in a largely Arab neighborhood in
northern Paris called the Goutte d'Or (Drop of Gold), officials said. He
also frequented two cybercafés in Paris and one in Brussels.

       European investigators have discovered Reid created e-mail boxes in
other countries - two in Britain and three in Pakistan.

       Reid sent messages throughout Europe, many to Belgium and numerous
others to Pakistan, computer experts said after examining the hard drives.

       FBI agents and a U.S. prosecutor arrived in Paris last Monday to work
with French authorities investigating the e-mails, Helbert reported.

         The U.S. team was expected to ask two e-mail hosts - Hotmail and
Yahoo - for authorization to get more details about some of the addresses
found on the hard drives, particularly that of the Pakistani.

NBC's Robert Windrem, citing U.S. officials who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said intelligence services have long identified Yahoo and Hotmail
as the al-Qaida terrorist network's preferred means to send e-mail.

       The benefits to al-Qaida are that such services can be accessed from
any computer in the world with an Internet connection, can be encrypted if
necessary, and accounts can be opened and closed quickly. Moreover, the
services do not retain records of emails for a long period of time.

ACCOMPLICES?
       Helbert said French investigators still do not know where Reid stayed
during the week he was in Paris before finally boarding the Paris-Miami
flight on Dec. 22.

       All Paris-area hotels have been checked, leading investigators to
believe that he was lodged by someone privately.

       Investigators also believe Reid had an accomplice with the ability to
stabilize the explosive in his running shoe.

       That explosive, TATP, is so volatile it could easily have exploded
while he walked, Helbert cited investigators as saying. Moreover, TATP is
effectively stabilized for only 48 hours before it reverts back to its
volatile form.

       Reid was subdued by flight crew and passengers when he allegedly was
spotted trying to light a fuse on the shoes.

NOT-GUILTY PLEA
       In a Boston courtroom Friday, Reid pleaded not guilty to a nine-count
federal indictment charging him with trying to blow up the Paris-Miami
flight as it was over the Atlantic Ocean.

       He was indicted Wednesday on the new charges and accused of ties to
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. Initially held for interfering with a
flight crew, Reid faces charges more closely tied to terrorism, including
the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

       "Not guilty," Reid answered softly when asked to enter a plea in the
case.

       One of Reid's court-appointed attorneys said the indictment does not
accuse Reid of acting for a terrorist group.

       "We note that the indictment does not allege that any of the crimes
charged were committed on behalf of or to further the cause of al-Qaida or
any other terrorist organization," Tamar Birckhead said in a statement. "We
are aware of no basis for such an allegation."

       On Wednesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Reid "is being
charged as an al-Qaida-trained terrorist" and could face up to five life
sentences.

       Ashcroft said the charges "alert us to a clear, unmistakable threat
that al-Qaida could attack the United States again."

       The other charges include: attempted murder and homicide; placing an
explosive device on an aircraft; interfering with a flight crew; attempted
destruction of an aircraft; using a destructive device during a crime of
violence; and attempted wrecking of a mass transportation vehicle.

       The London-born Reid is being held in Plymouth, Mass. No bail has
been set because Reid is considered a risk to the public and likely to flee
if released. Reid could be moved to Alexandria, Va., to stand trial. A
Justice Department spokesman has said the federal court there has expertise
in terrorism matters and could provide better security.

AL-QAIDA TRAINING CITED
       The indictment also alleges that "at various times ... Richard Colvin
Reid received training from al-Qaida in Afghanistan." It did not specify
when or where inside Afghanistan Reid is alleged to have been trained.

       The indictment came as the Wall Street Journal reported finding an
alleged al-Qaida computer in Afghanistan that contains a travel itinerary
very similar to that taken by Reid in the months before his arrest.

       The itinerary is said to be that of an "Abdul Ra'uff" and a senior
U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told NBC News that the
intelligence community has "few doubts" that Ra'uff is Reid.

       An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was
possible Reid was gathering intelligence during those travels for
large-scale attacks in Tel Aviv and other cities.

       Investigators are seeking any links between Reid and al-Qaida
operators. There have been reports that Reid spoke with Zacarias Moussaoui,
the first man charged in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

       NBC News' Nancy Ing, Pete Williams and Robert Windrem, MSNBC's Jon
Bonné and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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