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| Terror Networks |
| Authorities: Pilot trained hijackers |
| 2001-09-29 |
| BY STEVE WARMBIR Chicago Sun-Times An Algerian pilot was being held in London after British authorities said Friday he had helped train four of the kamikaze hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on America. The pilot, Lofti Raissi, had been living close to Heathrow Airport and attended the same Arizona flight school with four hijackers, authorities said. Raissi, 27, is the first person overseas to be directly tied to training the terrorists, authorities said. Prosecutors at an extradition hearing in London on Friday said Raissi traveled to the United States several times over the summer. Raissi had lived in Phoenix in the late 1990s, according to records from a commercial database. He used a flight simulator at Sawyer Aviation flight school in Phoenix as late as 1999 to train at least one terrorist, former school employees recall. Prosecutors also revealed that Raissi flew with a hijacker on June 23 from Las Vegas to Arizona. No additional details were given. Raissi was detained on Sept. 21 by a British anti-terrorism squad. The FBI is seeking to extradite him to the United States on charges he filed false answers when he applied for his pilot's license. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |