Well, if he shows up at U-Haul to demand his deposit back, they'll get him
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“Yeah, see? That’s my name, right there!”
This dummie seems to have learned nothing from the downfall of an earlier terrorist, the unfortunate Mr. Mohammed A. Salameh. Back in 1993, The Daily News had the story on that dolt’s capture.
Old-fashioned legwork and a good measure of dumb luck - including some unwittingly supplied by the suspect himself - led to yesterday's startling breakthrough in a crime that had been expected to vex investigators for months.
The first bit of luck came earlier this week, possibly as early as Monday, when probers searching the outskirts of the blast site found a piece of a stolen van - bearing a legible vehicle identification number - that had been blown far from the seat of the explosion.
Following routine procedure, a pair of FBI agents traced the twisted metal to a New Jersey car-rental agent who had no trouble remembering the customer who had rented the van.
The renter, agents said, was a frail man with a beard and heavy accent who rented the van for one week on Feb. 23, displaying a New York State driver's license.
The man had returned Friday afternoon, three hours after the explosion at the World Trade Center, claiming the van had been stolen from a grocery store parking lot.
"He wanted his $400 cash deposit back," said Connie Bello, a rental agent at Ryder Trucks on Kennedy Blvd. in Jersey City.archiv
After being told he would need a police report of the theft, he went to the Jersey City police department and reported the theft. He returned Monday still asking for his money, only to be turned away again.
The renters' persistence was the second bit of luck for investigators.
Yesterday morning, he was back a third time, but federal agents were waiting both inside the office and outside.
One FBI agent, posing as a Ryder employee, questioned the man about the theft of the van and then, playing the role of a frugal businessman, grudgingly handed him $200 - half his deposit and shooed him away.
As he walked out, he was pounced on by a team of FBI agents.
"They just grabbed him, threw him down and put the cuffs on him," said Dave Koslow, a witness who works at an auto shop next door to the rental office.
The suspect was identified as Mohammed A. Salameh, 25, of Brooklyn, a reputed follower of a militant Egyptian fundamentalist preacher, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a suspect in three recent political murders in New York and Cleveland and currently facing deportation from the U.S.
UPDATE: Damn it, I shouldn’t have warned him – he’s dumped the truck and forfeited his deposit.
