Probe of Travel, Phone Led to Bomb Suspect
Federal authorities said Thursday that the extradition of a 24-year-old Jordanian on charges of helping plant the bomb that rocked the World Trade Center was made possible by an investigation centered on travel records and a pay phone outside a New Jersey apartment where the bomb was constructed.
The Jordanian, Eyad Ismoil, pleaded not guilty during a five-minute hearing Thursday in federal court.
Authorities said Ismoil had been in constant communication from Dallas with co-conspirators in Jersey City, N.J., and five days before the blast, he flew to New York to participate in final preparations. Immediately after the explosion on Feb. 26, 1993, he fled to Amman, Jordan.
“The message we wish to send is no ocean is too wide, no distance too far, no time period too long and no effort too great to make those who kill or injure Americans immune from the U.S. justice system,” Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said.
“Little bits of information were pulled together,” said James K. Kallstrom, assistant director in charge of the New York field office of the FBI. “There was evidence of a number of phone calls to and from an apartment in Dallas. Law enforcement paid close attention to folks leaving the New York City area the night of the bombing.”
“It was . . . turning over one stone at a time,” added a Justice Department source.
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