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Terror alert shuts Fla. road; three questioned
By DAVID BALLINGRUD, ALISA ULFERTS and DAVID ADAMS
"Well, if they're mourning it 9-11, what are they going to do about 9-13?" a man asked Wednesday. Three men who looked to be of Middle Eastern descent laughed and talked of going to Miami and "bringing it down." Eunice Stone got up from her seat and got the tag numbers from the cars the men were driving. Then she called police. About 1 a.m. Friday, more than 24 hours after Stone overheard the remarks, the three men were pulled over on a section of Florida's Interstate 75 known as Alligator Alley. One of the two cars they were in ran through a toll booth without paying. The busy cross-Florida road was closed in both directions. There the three men would sit for the next 17 hours, answering questions while law enforcement officers, bomb dogs and robots searched their cars. By 6 p.m., they were back on their way toward Miami -- the whole, long, inconvenient episode apparently the result of a joke or misunderstanding. The episode underscored the country's jitters one year after the terrorist attacks. Authorities said one of the men was a U.S. native, another a naturalized citizen and the third had a valid visa. The men told reporters at an I-75 rest stop shortly after their release that they were medical students heading to Miami for training and denied making any comments or jokes about terrorism. One man, who has a long beard and wore a skull cap, said the woman may have been influenced by his appearance.
Bomb-sniffing dogs "alerted" to material in both cars, but no explosives were found, said E.J. Picolo of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Early Friday authorities blasted open what appeared to be a backpack taken from one of the vehicles. Bomb squad technicians in protective suits also removed a suitcase and plastic bags from one car. Nothing was found, but "we still have some investigating we need to do," FBI agent Corey Nelson said. "If this was a hoax, they will be charged," said Collier County Sheriff Don Hunter. Despite the inconvenience, law enforcement officials praised Eunice Stone and the new Florida system that her call set in motion. The system involves seven regional task forces composed of state and local law enforcement agencies, who in turn work with federal agencies. "This was a job very well done," Gov. Jeb Bush said. But, he added, "If this is a hoax . . . it is my hope that they will be prosecuted." "I commend state and local authorities for their alertness," said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. "And I especially commend the actions of the private citizen in Calhoun, Ga., who reported this suspicious activity to the proper authorities. "This is exactly the kind of citizen involvement that this war on terrorism is going to require as we seek to protect our homeland."
In an interview on the Fox News Channel, Stone said she thought at the time the men might be toying with her. She decided she to act anyway. "We hesitated to call anyone because we thought, they're just playing us," she said. "But then I thought, What's the right thing to do? If it turns out it's nothing, then it's nothing. "I hope I haven't done something wrong," she said. "I hope I haven't caused someone problems. . . . But at the same time I thought what if they really are doing something and I caught them?" FDLE Commissioner Tim Moore said Stone did the right thing. "Just think if we could get every American to do that, then every town would be safe," he said. "The time is long past when anyone can utter threats about taking things down. ... That's not a joking matter. I don't care how it was intended or understood." The public should continue to report suspicious activities and let police decide what's important, he said. And those tempted to play pranks should "think about it before you do it." He denied that the men were racially profiled. "I don't think anyone was profiled by anyone." The Associated Press reported that the three men received medical training at Ross University on the Caribbean island of Dominica and were heading to Larkin Community Hospital in south Miami for training. None of the three was on any watch list, the news agency reported. One of the detained men was Omar Chaudhary, 23, who was born in Detroit to Pakistani immigrants, according to his father. "We are very upset. I think this is all fabrication. I don't know what the lady in the restaurant heard or assumed. She must have had some kind of prejudice," Javed Chaudhary said from his home in Kansas City. "My son was born and raised here. I feel like we don't have freedom here anymore. Anybody can call anybody to make any kind of accusation. And the authorities treat you like you are a criminal." Abdallah Ghaith, who says one of the detained men is her brother, said he would not have joked about being a terrorist. "I know for a fact that he would not do anything like that," she said from Palos Hills, Ill. "He's a good man." Altaf Ali, executive director of the Counsel on American-Islamic Relations in Florida, warned that Arab-Americans need to watch what they say in public. He praised Florida law enforcement for acting with restraint, but called the public response to the investigation "a bit of an overreaction." Some media may been guilty of the same thing. In Miami, WSVN-Ch. 7, the Fox affiliate, replaced normal daytime programming with wall-to-wall coverage of the entire day on Alligator Alley. The incident caused worry in Miami after reports suggesting that the city was the potential target of a terrorist attack. Schools reported phone calls from anxious parents concerned for the safety of their children. Some callers to local radio stations expressed disgust at what they described as overblown coverage. Late in the day, WPLG-Ch. 10, the ABC affiliate, which did not alter its programming during the day, criticized its competitors for providing "unsubstantiated and misleading information." It was not clear whether any of the men were cited for running a toll booth. -- Times staff writers Bill Adair, Lucy Morgan and Graham Brink contributed to this report, which also includes information from the Associated Press.
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From the Times state desk
From the state wire
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