Man Is Charged With Smuggling Nitro Into U.S.

Authorities were exploring possible terrorist motives Friday in the case of an Algerian-born man who allegedly entered Washington state from Canada on a ferry earlier this week with a deadly combination of explosives stashed in the wheel well of his rental car.

Ahmed Ressam, 32, was charged Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle with smuggling nitroglycerin and more than 100 pounds of other explosives into the United States from Canada and giving false information to U.S. customs agents.

The French-speaking suspect was arrested Tuesday about 60 miles northwest of Seattle after he fled customs agents, who tackled him after a blocks-long chase.

At a hearing Friday, U.S. Magistrate David E. Wilson authorized the destruction of two 22-ounce jars of the highly volatile nitroglycerin. Defense lawyers wanted to test the material, but the judge ordered its disposal, citing safety concerns.

Ressam was apprehended just days after the arrests of 13 suspected terrorists in Jordan believed to be connected to the terrorist network of anti-American Saudi militant Osama bin Laden. Those arrests sparked a warning from the State Department to Americans traveling abroad who could be targeted in millennial celebrations. The State Department said it has received “credible evidence” that terrorists are planning attacks on Americans between now and the beginning of the new year.

The timing of the incidents in Washington state and Jordan stirred speculation Friday about the possible threat of terrorism in the United States.

Authorities would not comment on any evidence of a direct link to Bin Laden, who is suspected of masterminding last year’s deadly bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. However, a Justice Department official said that “everything is still under investigation.”

Officials at the Justice Department and the FBI, which has taken charge of the widening investigation, refused comment on the case.

According to a complaint filed against Ressam in federal court, he arrived at Port Angeles about 6 p.m. Tuesday on a ferry from Victoria, British Columbia, driving a Chrysler that he had rented in Canada. His car was the last one off the ferry.

Customs agents examined the car and asked Ressam to get out, but he was reportedly “uncooperative,” according to the complaint.

The suspect then gave customs agents a false identification and customs forms giving his name as Benni Noris, the document said. Further examination of the car uncovered at least eight credit cards, a passport and other material under the name Noris and another false identity.

But there was more inside the car.

Inspectors lifted up a mat to inspect the well where the spare tire is usually stored. There was no spare tire. Instead inspectors found 10 plastic bags containing 118 pounds of a fine white powder; two plastic containers with 14 pounds of a crystalline powder; two 22-ounce jars, each filled about three-quarters with a yellowish liquid; and four small black boxes that each contained a circuit board connected to a Casio watch and a 9-volt battery connector, materials that could be used to time a detonator.

One former counter-terrorism expert at the CIA told the Washington Post that the use of the Casio watch in a bomb design is “a signature of the Bin Laden organization.”

After discovering the explosive materials, a customs inspector began to lead the suspect away from the car, but Ressam broke free and ran, authorities said. Inspectors chased him for about six blocks, then spotted him trying to open the door of a car that had slowed at an intersection. The female driver sped away and the suspect was then tackled in the street, authorities said.

Tests later determined that the yellowish liquid was nitroglycerin, an extremely volatile and explosive substance, authorities said. The crystalline was in a sulfate form used primarily to absorb water and keep things dry, and the fine white powder was found to be urea, used to manufacture explosives and fertilizer. That same substance was used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City, which killed six people and injured 1,000.

“Preliminary analysis disclosed that when these materials are combined with a detonator, it would produce a large explosive device,” the complaint said.

Ressam’s real identity was determined through fingerprinting with the help of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, authorities said. He has a criminal history in Canada for theft under $5,000, with an immigration arrest warrant out on him.

Authorities said the suspect had booked a room Tuesday night at the Best Western Loyal Inn in Seattle under the name Benni Noris. The motel is a few blocks from the city’s famed Space Needle at Seattle Center, where thousands of revelers are expected to mass in two weeks to usher in the new millennium.

“Benni Norris” also had booked a flight for Wednesday night on American Airlines from Seattle to New York through Chicago, then on to London on British Airways, authorities said.

He also reportedly was carrying maps and tourist brochures for Washington, Oregon and California.