"28 nabbed by feds at Fort Worth site"

Saturday, June 29, 2002

28 nabbed by feds at Fort Worth site
Some may have ties to extremist group
By DEANNA BOYD
The Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram


FORT WORTH -- Federal agents raided an aviation repair facility at Fort
Worth Meacham Airport on Friday morning, arresting 28 workers on immigration
violations. Some of them, sources said, may be affiliated with a Muslim
extremist group responsible for a string of kidnappings in the southern
Philippines.

Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman with the U.S. attorney's office for Northern
Texas, said federal felony charges will be filed Monday against some of the
detained mechanics, who were working for Spirit Aviation Services. Colvin
said the workers apparently entered the United States through Mexico, the
Philippines and Peru.

Officials said the charges will relate to false statements on immigration
documents.

Sources said some of those arrested appear to have ties to Abu Sayyaf, a
Muslim rebel group in the Philippines that abducted more than 100 people in
the past year, including a Philippine nurse and a missionary couple from
Wichita, Kan. The three were the target of a rescue attempt this month in
which the nurse and husband were killed and the wife was wounded.

Sources declined to discuss the extent of the connections between those
arrested and Abu Sayyaf, which has been linked by federal authorities to the
al Qaeda terrorist network.

In May, the United States offered a reward of up to $5 million for the
capture of the group's leaders. The Philippine government has had a $100,000
reward on the heads of five Abu Sayyaf leaders for almost a year.

One notorious leader of the gang, Abu Sabaya, is presumed dead after
reportedly exchanging gunfire with U.S.-trained forces June 21 while
apparently trying to flee in a boat from Mindanao island, in the southern
Philippines. According to published reports, one soldier reported shooting
Sabaya in the back as he tried to swim away.

About 40 agents from the Border Patrol, Immigration and Naturalization
Service and the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force participated in the 9
a.m. raid at Spirit Aviation.

"The company was very cooperative," said David Davidson, a supervisor with
the U.S. Marshal's Service in Fort Worth.

Sgt. Mike Jones, supervisor of the Fort Worth Police Department's criminal
intelligence unit, which also participated in the investigation and raid,
said the joint operation's purpose was to "make our country safe."

Since the unit formed in December, Jones said, investigators have received
"complaints and concerns from citizens regarding Meacham Airport and certain
foreign nationals." He declined to elaborate on the complaints.

Jones said the investigation has been going on for months.

Spirit Airlines, the largest privately held airline in the country, started
as a Detroit charter company 12 years ago. Today, it is a passenger line
with 28 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 planes and makes 100 flights a day to 15
destinations across the United States and to the Caribbean.

The airline's headquarters are now in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Its planes
undergo repair, modifications and painting at the Fort Worth facility, which
employs more than 100 workers, said Laura Bennett, a Spirit Airlines
spokeswoman.

The airline does not operate commercial flights in or out of Meacham
Airport, she said.

Bennett said the company has cooperated with authorities since learning of
the federal investigation several days ago and had handed over requested
documentation regarding its workers' immigration status.

Bennett said that while all employees had provided the company
documentation, such as driver's licenses, passports and mechanic's licenses,
the investigation apparently revealed that some of the documents were
fraudulent.

"This is very sad for us. Some of these people have become friends and were
longtime employees," Bennett said. "The picture that is often painted is
(that) these are negative people, but in this case, though some of them may
be, it certainly wasn't all of them. They were very hardworking, very
professional people who, yes, had bad documents."

Bennett said none of those arrested has a criminal record.

A licensed mechanic working with the company, who asked not to be
identified, said the company had recently finished running background checks
on employees.

"I think that was because of September 11," the mechanic said. "We didn't
have September 11 before. That's why they didn't do anything before."

Bennett acknowledged that background checks and fingerprinting of employees
were recently done by the company.

The mechanic said he had worked previously with some of the men arrested in
Friday's raid. He said those detained included a man recently promoted,
another who had just bought a new truck and a third who had gotten married
just months ago.

"I feel sorry for the good people -- the good workers," the mechanic said.
"They work for money. Everybody works for money and to put food on the
table."

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