Material Found in Va. Studied for 9/11 Links

The FBI is trying to determine whether a batch of suspicious material found at the home of a fraud suspect in northern Virginia--including a federal flight manual, a drawing of the World Trade Center and a date book with Sept. 11 marked--could be linked to last year’s terrorist attacks, officials said Thursday.

The material surfaced as part of a federal investigation that this week led to the arrests of 58 foreign students who were allegedly involved in a scheme to generate fraudulent English-proficiency exams in order to secure student visas.

As part of that investigation, authorities seized a batch of suspicious items from the home of one of the suspects in northern Virginia, apparently in December. That material, as first reported by the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., and confirmed Thursday by an FBI official, included a Federal Aviation Administration flight manual, a hand-drawn sketch of a plane hitting one of the twin towers, and a date book that contained just a single entry--for Sept. 11.

The entry, in poor spelling, said: “Trackd the World Trade Center or the Pentagon trackd for the plaen.”

The items have piqued the interest of investigators for obvious reasons, but the FBI official cautioned that investigators believe at least some of the material was collected after Sept. 11.

However, another item seized as part of the investigation was a photograph of men posing inside and outside the World Trade Center, “and obviously that was taken before 9/11,” the official said. Officials did not identify any of the men in the photo.

“We don’t know what any of this means by itself,” the official said. “We’re trying to figure that out, but it’s certainly enough to attract some interest and for us to pursue. It’s just too early to draw any conclusions.”

The FBI also suspects that one of the individuals implicated in this week’s student visa arrests may have had connections to someone who helped several of the hijackers rent an apartment at an undisclosed location, a law enforcement source said. But the source cautioned that this connection appears somewhat tenuous and the suspicious material seized in the searches may turn out to be relatively insignificant.

Authorities have linked only one individual in the United States--French Moroccan Zacarias Moussaoui, now awaiting trial on conspiracy charges in Alexandria, Va.--to the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks.

FBI investigators say the 19 hijackers were a remarkably well-insulated group, minimizing their contacts with outsiders and even among themselves.

However, authorities have not ruled out the possibility that there remain others in the United States with links to Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network who may have knowingly assisted in the plot.

“We’re continuing to look at that possibility, and whether any of these guys may still be out there and what threat they pose,” the FBI official said.