One Sept. 11 Terrorist in Cody Two Years Ago

One Sept. 11 Terrorist in Cody Two Years Ago

The Associated Press
October 23, 2001

CODY, Wyoming - One of the terrorists who participated in the Sept. 11 attacks was here about two years ago when he drove a truck delivering skylights to Cody High School, authorities said.

Nawaf Alhazmi helped hijack American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, killing 125 in the building and 64 on the plane.

Alhazmi crossed into the United States from Canada and arrived in Cody on a Sunday afternoon in fall 1999, police detective Mark Longo told the Cody Enterprise.

School Superintendent Bryan Monteith was called for unloading instructions. He called Frank Child, who met Monteith and the truck in east Cody.

Alhazmi was dressed in silky clothing, pointed leather shoes and many gold chains and jewelry, Longo and Child said.

"It's out of the norm for what we would know a truck driver to look like," Longo says.

Alhazmi also did not speak much English, which caught Child's attention. Alhazmi's companion was a male who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, Child said.

"I thought to myself, 'Who are they and what are the doing?"' Child said.

He said Alhazmi smelled of both "body odor and perfume."

Child said he reported his suspicions to the FBI.

"I felt it was important to find out more," Child said. "I was suspicious at the time."

Child said the rest of the truck load, to be delivered elsewhere, consisted of cardboard boxes.

Monteith said at the time he thought the two were from the "Indian subcontinent."

Child said the men were in Cody about 45 minutes and then left. Their final questions were about how to get to Florida, he said.

Cody police have been asked to assist in the local aspect of the FBI's investigation.

Tracking Alhazmi to Cody helps investigators detail a timeline of his travels and activities that could lead to other suspects, Longo said.

Alhazmi was found to have met last year in Malaysia with an Osama bin Laden associate who was later linked to the plot to bomb the USS Cole in Yemen.

Federal documents reveal that at least 13 of the 19 hijackers entered the United States legally. But Alhazmi was among three who had overstayed their visas by Sept. 11.

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