Court orders Agus Budiman held without bail
Court orders Agus Budiman held without bail
Mathew Barakat, Associated Press
A U.S. federal magistrate ordered Agus Budiman held without bail after an FBI agent testified Thursday that one of the Sept. 11 hijackers had used his Virginia address to gain entry into the United States.
U.S. Magistrate Theresa Carroll Buchanan said she could not ignore the "close ties" between Agus and the hijackers. Agus, 31, is awaiting trial on document-fraud charges.
Those ties "lift these events out of the realm of the ordinary," Buchanan said in denying bail. She also found probable cause to forward the case to a grand jury.
FBI special agent Jesus Gomez linked Agus to three of the hijackers, including suspected ringleader Mohammed Atta, and two others believed to have close ties to the terrorists.
Agus' defense attorney, Mark Thrash, characterized the government's case as "smoke and mirrors," saying Agus had only a passing acquaintance with the hijackers through a Hamburg mosque.
He said there was no evidence that Agus had shared the hijackers' views about the United States or known of their plot.
Gomez testified that hijacker Ziad Samir Jarrah used Agus' name to get into the United States, and Ramsi Binalshibh, a Muslim cleric from Hamburg, twice unsuccessfully tried to use Agus' name to get into the country. The FBI says Binalshibh was supposed to be the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11.
Thrash said the two men used Agus' address without his permission and suggested that an acquaintance of Agus, Mohammed Bin Nasser Belfas, may have given Agus' address to the men.
"If you were going to be around after Sept. 11, would you voluntarily give your address out?" Thrash asked.
Agus, a driver for a food delivery service, is charged with helping Belfas, a fellow Indonesian, fraudulently obtain a Virginia driver's license. Belfas is believed by authorities to be a U.S.-based contact for Osama bin Laden. Belfas' whereabouts are unknown.
Prosecutor Steven Mellin acknowledged that the government didn't know the details of Agus' relationships with the hijackers. However, he called the connections "extensive.
"They're suspicious and they're troubling," he said.
More than 600 men from Arab and Muslim countries are in custody for immigration violations and other non-terrorism allegations, and authorities want to question 5,000 other Middle Eastern men in connection with the investigation.
Investigators have been told to check their immigration status and hold those with problems.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, the nation's top law enforcement official, has enticed foreigners to come forward with information about terrorists by offering them the prospect of Amerizan citizenship, including a promise to ignore visa problems.
"The people who have the courage to make the right choice deserve to be welcomed as guests into our country and perhaps to one day become fellow citizens," he said.
The citizenship-for-information program was the latest appeal by the Justice Department to elicit help from the public in tracking down terrorists. Hundreds of people from Middle Eastern countries have been swept up in the terrorism investigation, drawing complaints from civil rights and Muslim-American groups.
Ashcroft said foreigners who report to the FBI or U.S. embassies overseas with information about terrorists will not be questioned about their immigration status.
The new program could provide an incentive to get those in custody to cooperate and to encourage those wanted for voluntary questioning who have immigration problems.
"Some visitors may be hesitant to come forward with their information because of their immigration status," Ashcroft said.
"They may rest assured that the United States welcomes any reliable and useful information that they can provide. In return, we will help them make America their home."
A program started after the 1993 World Trade Center attack offers foreigners a special visa if they provide critical information about criminal activities or terrorists that could endanger their lives. The "S" visas are nicknamed "snitch visas."
As many as 250 such visas can be offered annually; last year 106 people and 122 of their family members received the visas. There is no limit on the number of people who can apply for the new program.