Oct. 3, 2001, 8:43PM

Grand jury indicts four Iraqis

Charged with obtaining false hazmat licenses

Reuters News Service

PITTSBURGH -- A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted four Iraqi men on charges of obtaining fraudulent commercial driver's licenses to haul hazardous materials, the U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh said.

The four are among a total of 21 men who were arrested in seven states last week in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack on New York and the Pentagon, as U.S. authorities tightened their scrutiny of hazardous materials shipments amid concerns about potential new threats.

The case has no ties to the hijackers who destroyed New York's World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and left more than 5,700 people dead or missing and feared dead.

Suspects allegedly purchased licenses from a Pittsburgh middle man identified as 36-year-old Elmeliani Benmoumen, who has been charged with obtaining the federal documents through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

An unidentified department employee who allegedly sold licenses to Benmoumen was fired from his job but not charged, and has been cooperating with investigators, authorities said.

The four indicted suspects were identified as Haider Al-Tamimi, 28; Hussain Sudani, 33; Mustafa Al-Aboody, 29; and Ali Alazawi, 29. All are from the Seattle area.

Each faces a single count of conspiring to unlawfully obtain a U.S. identification document, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan declined to say when indictments might be handed down against the remaining defendants in the case. "I'm not allowed to speculate on what might be presented to the grand jury," she said.

Nearly all of the 21 suspects are free on bond in their home states of Washington, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.

An exception is Sudani, whom a federal magistrate ordered held without bail in Seattle on Wednesday, for making what she called "inflammatory" comments in a sealed pretrial statement.

"The court knows very little about you," U.S. Magistrate Monica Benton told the suspect at a hearing. "The court is satisfied that Mr. Sudani does pose a serious risk of flight and danger to the community."

Federal authorities said neither Sudani nor Al-Tamimi has ever driven a truck. The other two indicted defendants were identified earlier as Washington state truck drivers.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2001