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The Boston Herald, October 7, 2001 Sunday

 

Copyright 2001 Boston Herald Inc. 

 

FBI agents have searched three Boston-area apartments tied to a Qatar man, Saif Salem al-Mehairbi, in connection with the probe of the terrorist hijackings.

 

Al-Mehairbi's name is one of more than 300 contained on a list compiled by FBI and intelligence agencies that has been sent to banking officials in Europe.

 

It is unclear why authorities are interested in al-Mehairbi, and he could not be located yesterday for comment.

 

The list includes the names of the 19 hijackers, as well as several people identified as associates of suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

 

On Sept. 23, investigators searched a fifth-floor apartment at 500 Broadway in Malden, which is listed as an address for al-Mehairbi. They seized 17 items ranging from hair, toenails, fingerprints and money order receipts, an FBI investigative document shows.

 

Agents also seized al-Mehairbi's lease agreement, an unidentified "circular plastic object," carpet samples and a Western Union money order transfer receipt from the Star Market in Allston made on July 27.

 

In addition, investigators seized documents for two of his checking accounts in Boston at Fleet Bank and Citizens Bank, an ATM transaction receipt made at 8:02 p.m. on June 7 in McLean, Va., as well as one made in Watertown on May 30, the FBI document shows.

 

Numerous papers that had been torn were also seized, including some written in Arabic. A note with a local phone number and a man's name written on it also was taken, the document indicates.

 

When a Herald reporter called that number yesterday, which public records list as belonging to an Everett business, a woman who identified herself as the man's wife said he was "tied up" and couldn't speak.

 

"He won't have any comment to make," said the woman, who refused to give her name.

 

Other documents seized included local phone numbers, including one for a BMW dealer, as well as a phone number in Virginia with the notation of a woman's name next to it. A call placed to that number was not returned last night. Agents also retrieved a "Capitol Hill" phone card, the document shows.

 

Gail Marcinkiewicz, a spokeswoman for the Boston office of the FBI, said she could not comment on any aspect of the investigation yesterday.

 

The apartment appeared to have been recently vacated yesterday. Empty hangers swung in the closet, with dry cleaning wrappers lying below them. An empty bottle of Sonya Rykiel men's cologne, and a room card for a Holiday Inn hotel lay on the kitchen counter. A bag of garbage stuffed with empty McDonald's wrappers sat on the kitchen floor. A phone number for the apartment was "recently disconnected" and no further information was available, according to a Verizon recording.

 

A spokeswoman for Cliffside Commons, Carol McDonald, said she could not discuss the FBI search or al-Mehairbi.

 

"This is a pretty major thing and I can't comment in the middle of an FBI investigation," said McDonald, vice president for operations for Corcoran Management Co., which operates the 285-unit complex.

 

A few days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, five FBI agents and a state trooper also went to 4 Canal Park in Cambridge, where al-Mehairbi lived until mid-July, according to building superintendent Richard Huber.

 

FBI agents and a Boston police officer also spent several hours searching an apartment at Charles River Towers in Watertown, where al-Mehairbi's name is listed on a building directory. The list sent to European banks refers to the Watertown address as a "drop box location."

 

Al-Mehairbi also apparently operated two Internet sites, one called "WolfofDarkness.com," which were devoted to Islam and contain eerie statements about the "peace of death."

 

One of the sites details al-Mehairbi's love of Islam, poetry writing and falcon hunting. He indicates he was born in the Middle East in 1975 and "when the time came, I left to study in the U.S. leaving every beautiful memory behind."

 

One of the sites also states: "Real love is not knowing the difference between death and life," and details the Muslim belief in a "day of Judgement."

 

"If some people who commit sins, neglect Allah and indulge in immoral activities, seem superficially successful and prosperous in this life, absolute justice will be done to them on the day of Judgement," the site reads.