Bin Laden Tie Seen in Border Arrest

The investigation of Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian accused of smuggling bomb materials into Washington state, is concentrating on his possible ties to extremist Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said Saturday.

“The focus of the investigation is this man’s links to Bin Laden’s network,” said a senior U.S. official who requested anonymity. “It’s more than just a suspicion, but we’re only in the very early stages. It’s not confirmed, but it is a serious possibility.”

The arrest heightened already intense concern about terrorist attacks over the holidays, not only abroad but also within the United States. “Obviously, the threat we’ve been worried about is now more immediate and real,” the official said.

Ressam, 32, was arrested Tuesday after running from customs officers who attempted to question him upon his arrival by ferry at Port Angeles, Wash., from Canada. The officers had found a large stash of bomb-making materials in his car, including what appeared to be timing devices that utilize a Casio watch--a trademark of Bin Laden’s organization.

Another U.S. official said that other evidence points to a Bin Laden connection.

Bin Laden is the wealthy Saudi Arabian radical who is believed to have directed last year’s bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Many Algerian radicals have been trained in terrorist activity by his organization.

With help from Canada, U.S. officials are trying to retrace Ressam’s travels to determine whether he came from Afghanistan, where Bin Laden is based, or neighboring Pakistan, a transit route for his operatives.

Ressam had a reservation at a Best Western motel near Seattle’s Space Needle, where thousands are expected to welcome 2000. He was headed for Seattle by a roundabout route when he was arrested, and his itinerary called for him to leave the United States by midweek.

Friday night, Canadian authorities searched a downtown Montreal apartment rented under one of Ressam’s aliases, Benni Noris. The search turned up no explosives, said Montreal police spokesman Christian Emond, but technicians continued to analyze evidence from the apartment Saturday.

Montreal police were also trying to determine whether there is a link between Ressam and an Algerian ring they recently broke up. Police announced last week that members of the ring were selling stolen computers and cell phones and extorting local Muslims to raise money for Islamic extremists in the Middle East.

Montreal police spokesman Andre Poirier said Ressam, who has been living in Canada, was convicted of stealing computer equipment and cell phones from parked cars in 1998 and disappeared after serving some jail time. Poirier also said one of Ressam’s roommates from that time had been later linked to the Algerian ring.

Ressam has been charged with smuggling explosives and making false statements to customs officials. Thomas Hillier, a federal public defender who is representing him in Seattle, had no comment on what the defense would argue at a bail hearing set for Wednesday.

Earlier this month, federal authorities alerted Americans traveling abroad to a threat of terrorist attacks over the year-end holidays. The warning was sparked by the arrests of 13 suspected terrorists in Jordan believed to be connected to Bin Laden’s terrorist network.

An increasing fear among counter-terrorism officials is that millennial celebrations in the United States may also have been targeted.

Customs spokesman Dennis Murphy said agents along the border with Canada are on alert since the arrest and additional staff has been deployed. The Canadian border has long been a concern, in part because that country’s visa requirements are not as strict as in the United States.

“Clearly [Ressam] chose a remote route here, so we want to make sure we have remote locations completely staffed,” Murphy said. “We’ve put everyone at all locations at a heightened state of awareness.”

One- to two-hour waits were reported Saturday at some border checkpoints.

U.S. officials said there was no tip that led to the arrest. “It goes without saying that there’s a customs agent that deserves a pat on the back,” said FBI spokesman Ray Lauer in Seattle.

Customs officers nationwide have “profiles” of potential suspects, and highest on the list are Arab or Muslim men in their 20s and 30s. The use of these profiles has angered Arab Americans and led to charges of arbitrary arrests and other abuses of power.

In this case, said customs spokesman Murphy, Ressam was taking a roundabout route to Seattle and “seemed nervous and evasive.”

Ressam had started his trip in Vancouver, Canada. Travelers from Vancouver to Seattle would usually drive straight down I-5 rather than take a ferry to Victoria and another ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, as Ressam did.

Acting on a hunch, Murphy said, a customs inspector at the Port Angeles crossing decided to take a closer look. The inspector, a woman whose name was not disclosed, found the explosives in a wheel well. “He bolted,” said Murphy.

Other inspectors chased Ressam through small-town streets and spotted him hiding under a truck. Desperate, he tried to commandeer a car, but it took off without him. The customs officers tackled him and made the arrest.

Another threat has emerged from the Middle East in recent weeks. The administration has been quietly warning for more than a month that Lebanon’s Hezbollah, or Party of God, may launch a terrorist attack to disrupt the Israeli-Syrian peace talks.

Wright reported from Washington, Murphy from Seattle. Times staff writers Bob Drogin and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington contributed to this story.