SPC suspect jailed in Michigan

The man, who tried to buy St. Petersburg College vehicles, has terrorist ties, police say.

A former Clearwater man who tried to buy an old ambulance and two surplus police cruisers from St. Petersburg College in August is an "affiliate of a terrorist organization," according to police documents obtained Wednesday.

Abdalla Deiab, 51, was arrested in Michigan on Wednesday on a warrant charging him with failing to return a hired vehicle, a Largo rental car, Pinellas County sheriff's and Largo police officials said.

In a Sept. 30 police report, Largo police Officer Michael Bruno wrote that when he checked law enforcement databases on Deiab, he learned Deiab was affiliated with a terrorist organization and "should be approached with caution."

Bruno gave no other information about Deiab's alleged terrorist affiliation. Largo police gave the information on Deiab and the missing rental car to the FBI, according to police records.

Pinellas County sheriff's officials say they were told that Deiab had been arrested Wednesday in Hamtramck, a town near Detroit, on the Pinellas County warrant issued Oct. 14. Failing to return a hired vehicle is a third-degree felony.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said Michigan authorities contacted him about Deiab's arrest and asked if Pinellas County officials would extradite Deiab. Bartlett told them they would.

Police officials in Hamtramck and Wayne County, Mich., declined to discuss the case. An FBI spokesman in Detroit initially said he had no information on the arrest. In a later conversation, he asked that his response be changed to "no comment."

In August, Deiab submitted the winning bids for four surplus vehicles at a silent auction at St. Petersburg College. The staff contacted authorities after considering the kind of vehicles being bid on, the appearance of four men, described as Middle Eastern, who came to photograph the vehicles and national news stories about terrorists trying to acquire ambulances to carry bombs.

SPC officials, Deiab's former employer and two of his previous landlords said last week the FBI has questioned them about Deiab, who was born in Egypt, and the men who visited SPC.

College officials have said an FBI agent mentioned a suspicion that the men might have associates with contacts to al-Qaida. An FBI spokeswoman from the Tampa office would not say if the agency is investigating, but said she was aware of Deiab's arrest. About a week after the SPC surplus auction, Deiab rented a white Mitsubishi Outlander from the Dollar Rent A Car on U.S. 19, according to the Largo police report. On Aug. 28, Deiab asked for an extension of the rental, which was denied, and he said he would bring it back that day.

When Deiab failed to return the car or respond to certified letters sent to his address on Shelley Street in Clearwater, the rental company contacted Largo police.

Bruno took the report.

"Upon running Abdalla for wants and drivers license I received information from LPD communications center that Abdalla Deiab was a know(n) affiliate of a terrorist organization and should be approached with caution," he wrote.

Bruno then contacted the Tampa FBI office, which returned the call and responded to Largo police Capt. Glen Smith. Since the incident, Largo police have been in close contact with federal agents. They called him Wednesday morning after Deiab was arrested, Smith said.

"Occasionally people like this pop up and we do a little extra because of it," Smith said.

- Times researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report. Nora Koch can be reached at nkoch@sptimes.com or 727 771-4304.

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