Ezell’s Story on ‘Terrorist’ Questioned

INS Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell said Monday that a suspected terrorist was arrested last week at the San Ysidro border crossing during a special program designed in part to identify persons who fit the government’s profile of a terrorist.

But both the FBI and U.S. Customs officials, who took part in the arrest of the suspected Sikh terrorist, said they have no evidence that the man is a terrorist, and, in fact, the man was released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego a day after his arrest, charged only with suspicion of bringing a weapon across the border.

Customs officials also said the arrest had nothing at all to do with the INS special training program.

“We were blind-sided by the INS talking about this terrorist,” said an exasperated Allan Rappoport, Customs district director for the California-Mexico border, who spent much of Monday afternoon trying to piece together and verify the INS’s story for the media.

“They shouldn’t have discussed this . . . we may have embarrassed someone” who may not have any links to terrorism, Rappoport said.

How Confusion Started

San Diego FBI spokesman Jim Bolenbach said, “This is strictly a Customs thing. We had no real input in the arrest or charges. The FBI has no information that he’s a member of any terrorist group. It isn’t our case.”

The confusion began as a result of an afternoon news conference called by Ezell and INS officials at the border crossing to bring attention to a recently completed two-week training program aimed at making INS inspectors better able to detect terrorists, drug traffickers and persons using fraudulent immigration documents.

While reciting statistics showing that the training program had led to a 100% increase in violation detections over the same two-week period last year, Ezell mentioned almost in passing that among those arrested during the program was a person who fit “the terrorist profile type.” He also said others who fit the same profile had been detained.

Pressed for more information, Ezell turned to Rolland J. Johnson, the INS’s San Ysidro port director, who said a suspected terrorist had been arrested by U.S. Customs officials--who also took part in the special training program--and that the matter was under investigation. He referred all questions to Customs authorities.

Very Nervous Driver

Rappoport and other Customs officials verified that, at 10:15 a.m. Sept. 21, a Customs inspector noticed a very nervous lone driver in a late-model car that had been rented in Los Angeles. The man was directed to a secondary inspection area, where a computer check was made through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center network, a service used by police agencies throughout the country.

The computer showed the man on a list of suspected terrorists, Rappoport said. Meanwhile, Customs inspectors found a .38-caliber revolver and 11 rounds of ammunition concealed in the car’s spare tire compartment.

Taken into custody was Devinder Singh, 28, of North Hollywood, who was born in India, according to Rappoport.

Another Customs official, who asked not be identified, said that Singh was carrying three different driver’s licenses with different names.

Rappoport at first said FBI agents were immediately summoned and, after several hours of interrogation, Singh was arrested at 3:10 p.m. and taken to MCC in the custody of the FBI.

After being told the FBI was saying it had little, if any, role in the arrest and interrogation, and none in filing charges or taking part in any Singh investigation, Rappoport later said he couldn’t verify the FBI’s involvement in the case.

Quickly Released

He said the Customs Office of Enforcement was the unit actually involved in Singh’s arrest, but he was unable to provide more information about the arrest.

“I have no knowledge of what happened . . . once we turned (Singh) over” to agents from the enforcement unit, he said. Calls to the Office of Enforcement in San Diego were referred to the Customs office in Los Angeles, where officials were unavailable for comment.

Authorities at MCC said Singh was released on the morning of Sept. 22, less than 24 hours after his arrest. Records at the federal prison show that Singh was arrested on suspicion of bringing a weapon across the border, a charge that is pending.

Rappoport said Singh’s detection and arrest occurred during a normal work shift and not as part of the INS’s special training program.