February 12, 2002 Terror Alert
In early 2002, according to an FBI report, as a result of US military operations in Afghanistan and of on-going interviews of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, information became available on February 11, 2002 regarding threats to US interests which indicated that a planned attack may have been about to occur in the United States or against US interests in the country of Yemen on or around the next day, February 12, 2002.
In response, on February 11, 2002, the FBI listed Abu Mu'az al-Jeddawi and 16 other suspected terrorists to the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list. The early version of that list was then known as the "Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information" list. Years later, the FBI removed his profile from the main page of that list.
On February 14, 2002, several days after the FBI alert, six of the names were removed from the list, and the FBI re-published the list with only eleven names and photos. Apparently six of the suspects who had been named were already in custody.
The six names identified in the Yemen plot on February 11, 2002, but who were removed from the list on February 14, 2002, are: Issam Ahmad Dibwan al-Makhlafi, Ahmad al-Akhader Nasser Albidani, Bashir Ali Nasser al-Sharari, Abdulaziz Muhammad Saleh bin Otash, Shuhour Abdullah Mukbil al-Sabri and Riyadh Shikawi.
Abu Mu'az al-Jeddawi remained listed among the eleven names still being sought on February 14, 2002. The others who also remained were: Fawaz Yahya al-Rabeei, Omar Ahmad Omar al-Hubishi, Ammar Abadah Nasser al-Wa'eli, Alyan Muhammad Ali al-Wa'eli, Bassam Abdullah bin Bushar al-Nahdi, Mustafa Abdulkader Aabed al-Ansari, Samir Abduh Sa'id al-Maktawi, Abdulrab Muhammad Muhammad Ali al-Sayfi, Abu Nasr al-Tunisi and Amin Saad Muhammad al-Zumari.
By March 21, 2002 three of those remaining eleven suspects (Tunisi, Jeddawi, and Zumari) had also been removed from the FBI list, leaving only eight wanted suspects from the Yemen plot still at large.
Whether foiled, aborted, or merely incorrect specific intelligence, the February 12, 2002 attack never occurred.
Read more about this topic: Abu Mu'az Al-Jeddawi
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