Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Eyad Ismoil was part of ``the planning stages, execution, and particularly in the transportation of the bomb'' that killed six people and injured more than 1,000, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said.
Ismoil, 24, was captured by Jordanian authorities over the weekend. A September 1994 indictment charging him with conspiracy was unsealed.
He drove the yellow Ryder van containing the 1,200-pound bomb into the skyscraper's underground garage, White said. The van was blown to bits. Prosecutors said he fled the country the same day.
Ismoil, who went to school with the alleged mastermind of the plot, was linked to the bombing through phone calls with conspirators and fingerprints. Authorities would not say where they found his fingerprints.
After his arrival from Jordan, Ismoil was flown by helicopter from Stewart Air Force Base to Manhattan, past the 110-story twin towers and the Statue of Liberty.
``I pointed out to him the World Trade Center and told him it was still standing. He just smirked,'' said FBI agent Thomas Pickard, who accompanied the defendant.
Ismoil, wearing a prison-issue orange jumpsuit, pleaded innocent in federal court in Manhattan. No trial date was set. He faces life without parole if convicted.
The Jordanian justice minister said that after police arrested Ismoil at the request of the United States, Ismoil told a Jordanian court he was innocent and wanted to clear himself in the United States.
The U.S. government has offered rewards of up to $2 million for information on fugitives in the case, using the Internet to advertise them. Among those sought is Abdul Rahman Yasin, who fled the United States immediately after the bombing, the government said.
by CNB