Phony Tip Fueled Border Crasher Hunt
The FBI has come to the conclusion that a group of five Middle Eastern men did not mysteriously slip into the country from Canada around Christmas Eve, and that the basis for the nationwide manhunt was fabricated by an informant who had been picked up in Canada.
CBS News Correspondent Stephanie Lambidakis reports a law enforcement official confirms the informant was hoping to help himself. He was indicted six years ago on false identification charges in New York and had been a fugitive.
The attorney for John Michael Hamdani, who has been held in Ontario since late October, said his client didn't fight extradition to the United States in a hearing Monday and would likely be sent to New York by Tuesday.
Canadian charges of forging passports and traveler's checks were dropped against Hamdani, clearing the way for him to face 1996 forgery charges brought in New York.
Hamdani is wanted on charges of trafficking in forged travel and identification documents.
The FBI had said it had no specific information the men were plotting a terrorist attack, but said it wanted to question them about possible connections to individuals who are involved in terrorism.
"We want to know why they are here. We want to question them ... and find out more," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters in Crawford, Texas, where President Bush was vacationing.
The only "hit" the FBI got from the pictures of the five men on its Web site and in the media was a complaint from a jeweler in Pakistan who said his photo was posted, but that he had nothing to do with terrorism or smuggling.
The agency also admitted during the holidays that it was not sure if the names matched the faces posted, or even if either the names or pictures were correct.
Law enforcement agencies, meanwhile, have been chasing reported sightings of the other men.
In Seattle, Dan Harrington told the FBI he rode a Greyhound bus across the border with one of the men whom agents want to question, reported Rick Price of CBS affiliate KIRO.
"Now he was definitely on the same bus as me down from Canada," Harrington said, pointing to a photograph allegedly of Mustafa Khan Owasi. "And it was definitely Christmas Eve."
Harrington said federal agents detained the man identified as Owasi during an unusually long delay at the border.
The FBI is mindful that Al Qaeda used Canada as a gateway before, during the Millennium plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. They're also aware that despite a forest full of motion sensors and infrared cameras, the 4,000-mile U.S-Canadian border is easily subverted.
Plus, the U.S. has long had its eye on a portion of the Middle Eastern population in Canada, which has a very lenient visa policy. According to one Canadian estimate, up to 50 suspected terrorist organizations had set up shop in Montreal alone.