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Feds Hunt For 11 Egyptians Missing In U.S.

POSTED: 3:24 pm MDT August 7, 2006
UPDATED: 3:35 pm MDT August 7, 2006

WASHINGTON -- U.S. authorities are searching for 11 Egyptian men who arrived in the United States last month but failed to turn up at Montana State University for a scheduled academic program.

According to the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, the men were among a larger group of students who arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York from Cairo on July 29 with valid visas.

FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said there is no threat associated with the men.

A law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the men are between 18 and 22 years old.

The official said the government probably will seek to send the students home once located because they have violated the terms of their visas.

University officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Feds Hunt For 11 Egyptians Missing In U.S. (http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/9642800/detail.html)

yeah right... I sure believe him....NOT!

FBI: Approach Missing Egyptians with Caution

The FBI has issued an urgent nationwide alert for 11 Egyptian students who entered the United States last week but failed to show up for their courses at Montana State University.

An FBI advisory says there are, at present, no known connections to any terrorist group but that the students are to be "approached with caution" and taken into custody.  They "are here illegally and wanted for questioning," the advisory says.

The advisory comes just over a month before the five-year anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

"This is of very serious concern and is being closely tracked," said Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The FBI says the Egyptians arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on July 29 and disappeared. The advisory says the alert is nationwide but that there is specific concern the Egyptians may be on the Eastern Seaboard.

According to the advisory the 11 missing Egyptians are:

1. Ibrahim, El Sayed Ahmed Elsayed; DOB OF 4/29/1986.
2. El Dessouki, Eslam Ibrahim Mohamed; DOB OF 02/21/1985.
3. El Bahnasawi, Alaa Abd El Fattah Ali; DOB OF 04/02/1986.
4. Abd Alla, Mohamed Ragab Mohamed; DOB OF 02/15/1984.
5. El Laket, Ahmed Refaat Saad El Moghazi; DOB OF 09/01/1986.
6. El Ela, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou; DOB OF 02/02/1985.
7. El Moghazy, Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed; DOB OF 08/08/1986.
8. Abdou, Ebrahim Mabrouk Moustafa; DOB OF 02/25/1984.
9. El Gafary, Moustafa Wagdy Moustafa; DOB OF 07/01/1988.
10.Maray, Mohamed Saleh Ahmed; DOB OF 09/12/1985.
11.El Shenawy, Mohamed Ibrahim Fouaad; DOB OF 08/12/1988.
_______________________

Yeap but "there is no threat associated with the men." ?

3 of 11 missing Egypt students found 
1 picked up in Minneapolis, 2 more surrender in New Jersey

3 Egyptian Students Taken into Custody

  Three Egyptian students who were being sought for failing to turn up for an exchange program at Montana State University were taken into custody Wednesday, more than a week after they arrived in the United States.

One student was arrested in Minnesota, and two others surrendered to authorities in New Jersey. They were among 11 students being sought by law enforcement after they failed to attend a monthlong program on the English language and U.S. history and culture in Bozeman, Mont., the FBI said.

Eslam Ibrahim Mohamed El-Dessouki, 21, was taken into custody on an immigration violation. Two other students surrendered to police in Manville, N.J., after hearing media reports that they were wanted, FBI spokesman Steven Siegal said.

Eight students remain at large. They arrived in New York on July 29 as part of a group of 17 students. Six students reported to Bozeman on time.

The missing students pose no terrorism threat, the FBI said.

Montana State repeatedly tried to contact the missing students. When that failed, the school notified Homeland Security officials and registered the Egyptians as "no-shows" in the system developed after the Sept. 11 attacks to track foreign students.

The government tightened the student visa process after the attacks. One of the hijackers involved in the attacks had arrived in the U.S. with a student visa, and immigration officials approved student visas for two other hijackers after they entered the country. A fourth attended flight training school without a student visa.

Missing Egyptian Student Arrested At O'Hare

Chicago police on Thursday morning arrested one of the 11 Egyptian students who were wanted for failing to show up for an exchange program in Montana.

As CBS 2’s Derrick Blakley reports, it all started with some heated words at a ticket counter.

At 8 a.m., about four hours after heightened security restrictions went into effect following a foiled terror plot in Britain, a man at the Delta terminal at O’Hare International Airport tried to use a ticket to go to Bozeman, Montana, but his ticket was out of New York rather than Chicago, police Supt. Philip Cline said at a news conference.

A disturbance then ensued. “He was raising his voice for the level for the counter agent to call for the police officer to come over,” Cline said.

The man, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela, 22, was found to be one of the missing Egyptian students, Cline said.

”He was acting in a strange, erratic behavior, and the Delta supervisor and they went a little farther in their investigation with the ticket, and they discovered that he was one of the missing students that they were looking for,” said Chicago police officer Tim Bolger, who arrived at the scene.

“We get disturbances occasionally, but it’s not unusual for people to be a little irate at the ticket counter,” added Bolger.

The Delta supervisor contacted the university, who in turn told her to call the Chicago Police Department and the FBI, Bolger said.

“They say he was kind of fidgety, moving around and kind of talking in a loud voice, which caused for a little bit of alarm,” Bolger said.

El Ela was calm when Bolgar arrived. He was taken into custody and turned over to federal authorities, Bolgar said.

Mayor Daley said Bolger “did a tremendous job” checking out the disturbance.

“All of a sudden a name comes up and a person of interest,” Daley said.

Authorities began searching for the 11 Egyptian students after they arrived in the United States last month, but failed to show up for an exchange program at Montana State University.

“For 11 individuals to completely, basically, fall of the radar in the United States, that’s a concern,” said Former Special FBI Agent George Bauries.

Two other students were arrested Thursday in suburban Baltimore. Three more were arrested on Wednesday -- one in Minnesota and two in New Jersey. The other six arrived as planned at the Montana school.

The Egyptian men were among a group of 17 students who arrived in New York from Cairo on July 29 with valid visas, according to U.S. authorities and university officials.

Since 9/11, immigration authorities have been monitoring the whereabouts of foreign students much more carefully.

“Intelligence and counter intelligence is extremely important in order to protect us from attack,” Daley said.

So far, the students haven't explained why they didn't show up in Montana.

Neither federal nor local authorizes are suggesting they have any ties with the British bombing plot or any terror activities.

6 of 11 Egyptian Students Now in Custody

  Six of the 11 Egyptian exchange students who failed to show up for their college program are now in custody after three additional students were arrested Thursday, the FBI said.

El Sayed Ahmed Elsayed Ibrahim, 20, and Alaa Abd El Fattah Ali El Bahnasawi, 20, were arrested at a residence in Dundalk, Md., outside Baltimore, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Chicago police detained Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela, 22, at OHare International Airport as he was attempting to book a flight to Montana, the FBI said. Immigration agents later took El Ela into custody.

All are being held on administrative immigration violations because they did not report on time to their monthlong program at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont.

None of the students is considered a terrorism risk and FBI officials stressed that there are no ties between the Egyptians and the alleged terror plot broken up by British authorities.

Three students were arrested Wednesday. The other five Egyptians still are being sought.