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FBI questions Delray pharmacist about purchases by hijackers

By Joe Kollin and Stacey Singer , South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The FBI has questioned a Delray Beach pharmacist who may have provided antibiotics and skin ointments to suspected hijackers Mohammed Atta and his nephew, Marwan Al-Shehhi.

In the weeks before the Sept. 11 attack, Atta and another man walked into Huber Drug on Atlantic Avenue, searching the aisles with confused looks, pharmacist Gregg Chatterton said.

He remembers them clearly, he said, because most of his customers are elderly, so those men stood out.

After reporters interviewed him about the demand for the antibiotic Cipro to treat anthrax infections, Chatterton said, he began to wonder if the customer with the irritated hands was one of the suspected terrorists. His mind raced: Could the man's hands have turned red after mixing a batch of anthrax and trying to decontaminate himself?

Chatterton said he picked up a newspaper and looked at the hijackers' pictures. Then he was certain. He spoke with the FBI about his concerns last week.

"I looked real closely, and I said, `Wow. Oh God, I recognize that guy. And then I pointed at the guy with the glasses, Al-Shehhi -- they were in here together," Chatterton said on Sunday.

Joann Chappell, the store's pharmacy technician, also recognized Atta and al-Shehhi, plus two suspects, brothers Waleed M. al-Shehri and Wail al-Shehri.

She recalled the brothers walking up and down the aisles and stopping to talk.

"I felt that they were [state] inspectors, they seemed very important, very well-dressed and courteous," she said.

They were in the store four or five times and made purchases, although she doesn't recall what they bought.

Throughout the summer, Atta, Al-Shehhi and several other suspected hijackers lived in Delray Beach -- from June 13 to Aug. 12, they rented in the Hamlet Country Club off Atlantic Avenue. Some also stayed at a flat in the Delray Beach Racquet Club, in a complex south of Linton Boulevard. Meanwhile, at least one of the suspected hijackers was spotted using computers at the Delray Beach Public Library, around the corner from Huber Drug.

"They were standing there. looking at all of the products, looking perplexed. So I went over there and said to Atta, `Is there anything I can do to assist you?' He put up his palms and they were red," Chatterton said. "It looked like they had washed with some bleach or something like that."

FBI agents decontaminating themselves from anthrax exposure use a solution of bleach and laundry detergent. Chatterton said a caustic cleaning solution like that might cause the same skin irritation.

Chatterton asked Atta what he did for a living. Workers at a nearby cement plant get red hands when they don't use gloves, he suggested. Atta said no, he did not work with cement.

"I said. `Let's make sure it's not a fungus. Do you work in the garden?' He scoffed at me," Chatterton said. "I asked him if he had used the cleaning solution toluene. He said, `No, I don't use those chemicals.'"

"I said, `Now what line of work are you in?' He said computers."

Atta was so evasive, Chatterton thought he might be working in a cocaine laboratory. He had seen it before. So he was cautious.

"I said, `If you work with a computer and were trying to clean the boards, most likely you got the solution on your hands. If you washed your hands excessively with bleach or a cleaning solution, you would knock the acid base off your hands."

He suggested a cream called Acid Mantle to help.

Then, Al-Shehhi asked for help with a cough.

"I recommended lots of fluids and Robitussen. But I said if you have a fever you need to see a doctor."

The men paid cash for the ointment, and then Chatterton referred them to the Urgi-Med clinic nearby. Later, one of the two men returned with a prescription, filled by someone on Chatterton's staff.

When he reviewed the prescriptions, Chatterton chided his staff for failing to get full information from the customer.

"Which one is the first name and which is the last? I couldn't tell," he said.

Chatterton said he can't recall the precise antibiotic, and he has not been able to locate the prescription.

Since telling his story, Chatterton has become yet another South Floridian thrust into the spotlight by the tragedy.

But he isn't enjoying the fame.

"I'd rather be known for inventing something or saving lives, not saving a terrorist's red hands," he said.

Joe Kollin can be reached at jkollin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7913.

Stacey Singer can be reached at ssinger@sun-sentinel.com or at 561-243-6616.

Copyright 2001 Sun-Sentinel

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001