FBI Summary about Flight 175 Hijackers

8/14/2019 FBI Summary about Flight 175 Hijackers

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Law E nforcement Sensitive,

Investigative Summary

UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT #175BOEING 767

7:58 AM DEPARTED BOSTON FOR LOS ANGELESCRASHED INTO THE SOUTH TOWER OF THE WORLD

TRADE CENTER AT 9:05 AM

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Law Enforcemen t SensitiveExecutive Invest igative Su mm aryUnited Airlines Flight #175

(LES) On September 11,2001, th e Pentagon and World Trade Center complex eswe re targets of a series of attacks coordinated, financed and executed by Al Qaeda , theterrorist network lead by U s am a Bin Laden.

(LES) As part of the attacks, U nited Airlines Flight #175 (b ou nd for Los Angeles,California from Boston, Massachusetts) w as hijacked shortly after take off by fiveindividuals who then crashed the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Centercomplex result ing in significant loss of life and property . Su bsequent inves t igat ion byintelligence and law enforcem ent entities has determined that th e five individuals d irect lyresponsible for executing this part of the at tack on behalf of Al Qaeda were M a r w a nAlshehhi, Fayez Ahmed, Ah me d Alghamdi , H am z a Alghamdi and M ohand A lshehr i. Abrief synopsis of their conspiracy as well as biographical data fo r each h i jacker appea rsbelow.(LES) In 1996, M arw an Alshe hhi beca me a Sergeant in the UA E Arm ed Forces andw as sent to Ge rman y for technica l s tudies. In 1996 or 1997, A lsheh hi term ina ted hisstudies, left the UAE Armed Forces, and began to associate with ex tremis t e lements inGermany. During 1997 and 1998, he s tud ied Ge rma n at the Univ ers i ty of Bonn, thenelectrical engineering at the Technical U niversity of H am bu rg- H arb ur g (TUH H). This wasat approximately the same t im e that M ohamed Atta (#11) at tended TUHH, and ZiadJarrah (#93) studied avia tion mechanics at the Fachhochschule (an advanced techn ica lschool), also in Hamburg, Germany. Thereafter , Alshehhi re tu rned to Bonn, l iv ing in as tudent residence for the first half of 1999.(LES) In the fall of 1999, A lshehhi, usi ng the a lias "Abu Abd ul lah ," s tayed atU sa m a Bin Ladin's guest house in Q an d ah a r , Afghanistan while awai t ing t ransportat ion toPakistan fo r medical treatment. At the e nd o f the year, he claimed he lost his UA Epassport and applied for a replacement, receiving sam e on Janu ary 2,2000. After beingissued the new passport, Alshehhi imm ediately left for G e rm an y but returned later thatmonth to be issued a 10-year,mu ltiple entry B1/B2 visa at the Un ited States C onsu late inDubai, UAE.(LES) Alshehhi entered the U nited States on May 29, 2000 at New ark, New Jersey.Shortly after his arrival, he flew to Norman, Oklahoma with Mohamed Atta (Flight #11) to

visit th e Airman Flight School. The two stayed in Oklahoma from July 2,2000 througheither July 3 or 5, 2000. On July 7,2000, Alshehhi and Atta opened a jo in t bank accoun tin Venice, Florida with a $7,000 deposit, and on July 18,2000, began flight training atHuffman Aviation in Venice. The next day, Isam Mansour wired S9,985 to theAtta/Alshehhi account from the UA E Ex change Centre. M ans ou r also wired 59,485Law Enforce men t Sens i tive

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Law Enforcement Sensitivethrough th e Centre to this account on August 7,2000. A n addi t ional 519,985 w as sent toth e account from (FNU) A H through the UAE Exchange C entre on Augus t 30, 2000, and onSeptember 18,2000, 569,985 w as wired to the account f rom "Hani" of Fawar Tradingthrough the UAE Exchange Centre. These deposits totaled 5116,440.

(LES) In September 2000, Alshehhi and Atta continued their f l ight t raining atJones Aviation in Sarasota, Florida, and a month later, the two failed their State I fl ightlesson. On December 23,2000, Alshehhi flew to the UAE then left the same day forGermany . H e returned to the Un ited States and trained with Atta on December 29 or 30,2000 on a Boeing 727 simulator at Simcenter at the Opa-Loca Airport. Both m enrequested training on "executing turn s and approaches" but not on other trainingnormally associated with th e simulation course. The two performed flight checks at theAdvanced Aviation Flight Training at G winn ett Airport in Lawrenceville, Georgia onJanuary 13 and 31,2001, and on February 6,2001.(LES) In Febru ary 2001, Atta and A lshehh i traveled to Virginia Beach , V irginiaand o pened a ma ilbox acco unt on February 20,2001 at a Mail Dep ot in Norfolk, V irginia .The ac cou nt was sub sequen tly closed on April 4, 2001. On A pril 12, 2001, Alsh eh hi wasissued a Florida driver's license, and six days later, traveled from th e Unfted States toEgypt, via Am sterdam. Wh ile in Egypt, Alsh ehhi met with Atta's family and obta ine dAtta 's internation al driver 's p erm it and money from Atta's father. On M ay 2, 2001,Alshehhi left Egypt for the Un ited States, via A m s t e r d a m , and arrived in the Un ited Stateson May 5, 2001 at Miami, Florida.(LES) Ahmed Alghamdi , a Sa ud i Ara bian, was issued a visa to com e to the Un itedStates in September 2000. He arrived in W ashington, D.C. from L on do n, En gla nd on May

2, 2001 after depa rt ing the UAE that same day. M ajed M oqed (#77) was on the sam e flight,and both Alghamd i and Mo qed indicated they were carrying in excess of 510,000 in foreignor Un ited States curren cy.(LES) On M ay 24,2001, Alshehhi traveled from New York, New York to LasVegas, Nevad a via San Francisco, California. While in Las Vegas, he rented tw o cars fromtw o comp anies, turnin g th e first car back in after just one day. H e departed Las Vegas onM ay 27,2001, again traveling throu gh San Francisco on his way back to New York, New

York.(LES) Hamza Algham di, M ohan d Alshehri, and A hm ed A Inam i arrived in Miami,

Florida on May 28,2001 f rom Dubai , UAE via London, England. O n June 1,2001, H a m z aAlgham di opened a bank account at SunTrust Bank in Hollywood, Florida with a 53,000deposit in the form of a Visa International travelers' check from Bahrain. Six days later,an unknown individual deposited an addi t ional 53,000 into th e account in the samemanner . O n June 26,2001, an unk now n individual deposited 51,000 into th e account .Law E nforcem ent Sensit ive

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Law Enfo rcem ent Sensit ive(LES) On June 27, Fayez Banih am m ad of the UAE arrived in the United States atOrlando, tw o days after opening a checking and savings accoun t at the StandardChartered Ba nk (SCB) in Du bai, UAE , and depo siting the equiv alent of $14,000 into thechecking accoun t and the e quivalen t of $15,530 into the savings account. Ba niha m m ad alsoreceived a deb it card for use on these accoun ts. Saeed Alghamdi (#93) arrived in the

United S tates on the same flight as Banihammad .(LES) Ah me d Alg ham di used $100 cash to open a Dime Savings Bank account inMorris Plains,NewJersey on July 9,2001, and on August 1,2001, $3,000 in cash wasdeposited into this acco unt. The next day, Ahm ed Algham di, with th e assistance of Vic to rFIores-Lopez, obtained an ID in Virginia, then flew with Abdulaziz Alomar i (#11) fromNewark, New Jersey to Miami, Florida via Atlanta, Georgia on AirTran.(LES) On July 27, 2001, Alshehhi purchased an airl ine t icket from San Francisco,California to Miami, Florida w ith a connection in Las Vegas, Nev ada. From Au gust 26through Septem ber 10, 2001, he stayed in Deerfield Beach, Florida at a hotel w ith 2 othe r

unknown males. On Augus t 26, 2001, Alshehh i purc hase d his ticket fo r Un ited Airlinesflight #175 at the Miam i Internationa l Airport . He was acco mp anie d to the ticket cou nterby an unidentified M iddle Eastern in divid ual (NFI). The next day, M o h a n d Alshehri andFayez Baniha mm ad bough t tw o one-way first class tickets fo r United A irl ines flight #175.The tickets, w hich cost $4464.50, were purcha sed w ith B an ih am m ad 's Visa card. Ha mz aAlghamdi purchased his United Airlines flight #175 on Au g u s t 29,2001. H e a lso purchase dan e-ticket fo r United Airlines Flight #7950, flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco.Hamza Alghamdi 's credit card was used on A ugu st 30, 2001 to purch ase a bu siness class e-ticket fo r Ahmed Alghamdi fo r United A irlines flight #175. On September 4, 2001, HamzaAlghamdi purchased tw o one-way tickets fo r himself and Ah m e d Al g h a m d i to fly AirTranfrom Ft Lauderdale, Florida to Boston, Massachusetts on September 7,2001.

(LES) O n September 5,2001, A tta (#11) and Als hehh i booked a irl ine flights at atravel agency in Boca Raton, Florida. Atta booked a US Ainvays flight from Ft.Lauderdale, Florida to Baltimore/Washington International Airport, flying on September7, and Alshehhi booked a reservation on Delta Airlines from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida toBoston, M assachusetts on September 9,2001. Also on September 5, 2001, Alsheh ri andBanihammad ma de their reservations to travel from Ft. Lauderda le, Florida to Boston,Massachusetts on AirTran, a trip wh ich took place on September 8,2001.(LES) Once in Boston, th e hijackers stayed in their established groups, lodging in

different hotels. Hamza and Ahm ed Algham di s tayed at the Charles Hotel. O n Sep tember8,2001, the two checked out of the Charles Hotel and moved to the Days Hotel in Boston.Alshehri, Banihammad , and Als hehh i stayed at the Milner Hotel. O n September 9,2001,Mohamed Atta (#11) also checked into the Milner Hotel, staying that night. On September10,2001, Alshehhi wired $5,400 to Musta fa Ahmed in the UAE. Atta had also wired

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Law E n f o r c e m e n t SensitiveA h m e d several transfers totaling $8,000 tw o days earlier.

(LES) Early in the morn ing on September 11,2001, Hamza Algha mdi checked outof the Days Hotel. About 15 minutes prior to checkout, another man identified by the hotelmanager as Ahm ed Algham di exited the hotel. The two apparent ly took a taxi to theairport. B a n i h a m m a d and Alshehri checked out of the Milner H otel, and drove a rentalcar to the airport. Alshehhi , who received a cell phone call from Ziad Jarrah (#93) in themo rning, also arrived at the airport. United Airlines flight #175 departed Boston's LoganAirport at 7:58, bound for Los Angeles, California and crashed into the South Tower of theWorld Trade Cen ter at 9:05 a.m. causin g signific ant loss of life and property.

The following m ateria ls represent sum m ary inform ation abo ut the Fl ight #175hijackers and the ir activities. Rec ipients are advised to forw ard i n fo rma t io n relevant tothese individuals to m e m b e r s of the PEN TTBO M Investigative Team lis ted.

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FBI Summary about Flight 175 Hijackers

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