Good
afternoon.
This morning, people across the country
and around the world remembered and honored
those who lost their lives, those who
saved lives, and those whose lives were
changed forever by the tragic events of
September 11th. The indictment we are
announcing today is an important step
in the process of bringing to justice
those who we believe to be connected to
these violent and vicious attacks on America.
Zacarias Moussaoui first came to our attention
on August 15th, when we received information
about the suspicious circumstances of
his flight training. The FBI worked with
the INS and Moussaoui was detained the
next day by the INS on a visa infraction.
The FBI continued to investigate Moussaoui
after his detention. As we uncovered information
on the September 11 attacks, and as is
alleged in the indictment, Moussaoui followed
many of the same patterns and took many
of the same steps as the 19 hijackers.
As the indictment charges:
Moussaoui was present at an al Qaeda-based
terrorist training camp in Afghanistan
three years ago. He attended flight school
and took commercial flight training courses.
He purchased flight deck videos from an
Ohio Flight Store, just as Mohammed Atta
and other hijackers had done before him.
He purchased knives and protective equipment.
He looked into global positioning system
technology. Like Atta, he also researched
crop dusting. The indictment also alleges
that Moussaoui was linked to Ramzi Bin
al-Shibh, an associate of Atta who tried
unsuccessfully to get into America on
four separate occasions.
As the indictment charges:
At the time of al-Shibh's last failed
attempt to enter the U.S., Moussaoui was
contacting flight schools and making arrangements
to have a legitimate presence in the U.S.
In February 2001, he arrived in the U.S.,
opened a bank account with $32,000 in
cash, and immediately enrolled in a flight
school. In early August 2001, Moussaoui
received $14,000 from Germany from al-Shibh.
On August 10th, he paid for flight lessons
with $6,300 in cash.
I want to thank all those who contributed
to today's indictment, including our partners
here in the U.S. and overseas, whose cooperation
and investigative skills were invaluable.
With the help of our partners here and
overseas we will continue to investigate
to ensure that justice is done.
Thank you.
