Today's "What the Hell Is Going On" Story

I don't even know what to think about this:

Federal authorities tried Friday to unravel the story of a
Chicago investment banker who vanished on Valentine's Day, may have
gone to New York and then reappeared Thursday night on a Morocco-bound
flight, where he claimed he had been kidnapped by Al Qaeda.
Officials questioned Zubar Ghias, 27, in Bangor, Maine, but he was not
placed under arrest. A second passenger, whose name was not released,
was sitting next to Ghias, Bangor Police Sgt. James Owens said. Bangor
police removed both passengers from the flight and took them to the
FBI's Bangor office, Owens said. Neither was under arrest, he said.
Tony Caruso, assistant director of Bangor International Airport, also
said two people were removed from the flight. "It would make sense that
we would interview a number of people," said FBI spokeswoman Gail
Marcinkiewicz. Ghias was on board Royal Air Maroc's (search) Flight 201
when it took off from New York's Kennedy International Airport Thursday
evening en route to Casablanca. Federal authorities diverted the Boeing
767 to Bangor, where it landed about four hours later. Transportation
Security Administration (search) spokesman Mark Hatfield said the plane
was redirected because of a bomb threat, which he said had apparently
been made by a passenger. Marcinkiewicz cited calls from Chicago-area
media to an airline security desk in New York reporting a possible
bomb. "There was no bomb," she said. Holly Baker, a spokeswoman for the
Federal Aviation Administration in New England, said she knew nothing
about a bomb threat. Baker said the plane was diverted because "there
was a person aboard who they felt was a security risk." The plane,
carrying 92 people, was refueled and passengers were rescreened before
it took off again from Bangor International Airport at 3:51 a.m. en
route to Casablanca. Caruso said the pilot first told passengers that
the Boeing 767 had mechanical troubles "so the passengers wouldn't get
upset." The Bangor airport was notified 10 to 15 minutes before the
plane landed, he said. "We got a call that there was an irate passenger
on board, and also a bomb threat," he said. The Boston FBI office,
which oversees Maine, told Fox News that other passengers besides Ghias
had been questioned in Bangor. All were released.
Ghias was not in FBI custody, nor in Bangor police custody, the FBI
said. Ghias' family told Fox News that they had not yet heard from him
on Friday. 'I've Been Captured by Al Qaeda'
Before taking off Thursday, Ghias borrowed a cell phone from another
passenger and called his wife with a cryptic message. Eddie Rizzo, a
private investigator in Chicago, quoted Ghias as telling his wife: "I'm
on flight 201 to Morocco. I've been captured by Al Qaeda. They want me
to do something for them. I love you, I just gotta do this."
Marcinkiewicz wouldn't comment on Rizzo's story. "He basically told his
family he was forced onto the plane by some Arabic people," said FBI
agent James Osterrieder. "He basically said that his family was
threatened and commenced to tell us he had been abducted some time on
Valentine's Day actually, and that he had been held ever since, mostly
in New York City." The call from Ghias was the first contact his family
had with him in nearly a week. He disappeared one day after buying a
new ring for his wife in Chicago. Ghias' wife, who is 6 months
pregnant, last saw him Saturday when he picked her up from the airport
around 8 a.m., left her at their home and said he was going to do some
work at his office at J.P. Morgan Chase and Company, the NBC affiliate
in Chicago reported. She reported her husband missing around noon on
Monday. Ghias apparently never went to his office, and his 2003 Land
Rover was found at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. Chicago Police Sgt.
Scott Schwieger said police found two gold rings and a note asking for
help in the car, but investigators had not confirmed that it was
written in Ghias' hand, or for how long it may have been in the car.
Ghias withdrew about $5,000 in small bills from his checking account at
a Harris Bank branch in Chicago around 11:45 a.m. Saturday. Rizzo said
Ghias had dinner at his father-in-law's house Friday night and told him
he was interested in purchasing an antique wristwatch for $5,000.
Ghias' family held a press conference Thursday night. His uncle said he
wanted to thank God for bringing his nephew back. Tracked to New York The FBI said they tracked Ghias down to a
New York City location in at least one instance, on Feb. 16. A man who
matched his description purchased drywall, tape and glue at a hardware
store in Brooklyn using a credit card in the days after he disappeared,
Schwieger said. The store did not have a security camera, so there was
no positive ID, but according to Rizzo, the signature on the receipt
matches Ghias' signature. "I called the shop and talked to the owner,"
Rizzo told the television station. "He remembers the guy." Ghias may
have contacts in Brooklyn from business trips he had taken to New York
in the past, Schwieger said. Rizzo told Fox News that "the guy's
straight up," has a wealthy family, isn't involved in drugs and is a
"complete family man." "It is again the most bizarre case I've ever
handled and it goes from left to right every five minutes," Rizzo said.
"But the more I get into it, the more I really believe the guy."

In other words, an Al-Qaeda cell in New York City kidnapped a guy, held him for a week, and forced him to do something involving an airplane.

Meanwhile, America loses it's collective shit over a Mel Gibson movie.

Posted by flow Frazao on February 20, 2004 at 01:54 PM | Permalink