Smuggler Challenges Key Testimony in Detroit Terror Case

DETROIT —  A cigarette smuggler is challenging testimony by a key prosecution witness in the post-Sept. 11 convictions of three Moroccan immigrants, a defense lawyer said Friday.

James Thomas, a lawyer for convicted immigrant Ahmed Hannan, said the prosecution turned over information from an FBI interview with smuggler Thamir Zaia as part of an ongoing document review ordered by a federal judge.

In the interview, first reported Friday by the Detroit Free Press, Zaia said it was he, not defendant Karim Koubriti, who went shopping for cigarettes with a man whose notebook had what the government says were sketches of possible terrorist targets.

The notebook, owned by a now-dead, mentally ill Yemeni immigrant named Ali Mohammed Ali Ahmed, was a major part of the prosecution’s case. A prosecution witness, Sam’s Club store manager Carolyn Sadowski, was the only one to link him with the defendants. Defense lawyers say their clients did not know Ahmed.

The Free Press, citing unidentified people familiar with the case, said Zaia flunked a lie detector test as to whether he was telling the truth in his March 2 FBI interview. However, the sources told the newspaper that they still believed Sadowski was mistaken.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen is considering requests for a new trial by Koubriti and the other two immigrants, convicted in June 2003 in the first trial to result from the federal probe of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

At trial, Sadowski identified Koubriti as the man who accompanied Ahmed to buy more than $3,000 worth of cigarettes. She said Koubriti showed her a driver’s license belonging to Zaia.

“It just didn’t make sense because [Zaia’s] ID was on the check that Ali Ahmed had presented to the Sam’s Club,” Thomas told the Associated Press.

“Zaia doesn’t look anything like Koubriti,” he added.

Thomas said the defense learned of Zaia’s interview about two months ago and received a copy of the official FBI summary of the interview three weeks ago.

“Koubriti’s chances of a new trial are greatly enhanced now,” Thomas said.

Koubriti, 25, was convicted along with Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi, 38, of conspiring to provide material support to terrorism. Hannan, 35, was convicted of document fraud, and a fourth man was acquitted.

The Bush administration hailed the convictions as a victory in the war on terror. But defense lawyers requested a new trial, saying prosecutors withheld witnesses and evidence crucial to the defense.

Neither Assistant U.S. Atty. Eric Straus, who is handling the case, nor a lawyer for Zaia responded to messages seeking comment.

In October 2002, Zaia was sentenced to two years probation for his role in a scheme to smuggle cigarettes from North Carolina to Michigan.

Since then, he has been charged in two check-cashing schemes. He is free on bail. The cases are pending.