Oct. 29, 2001 – Four men who were picked up on illegal immigration charges on Friday and who have been identified by federal authorities as Jordanian nationals are to appear on Tuesday in U.S. District Court on St. Thomas.
Agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Naturalization Service and local police arrested the four men at the Miller Manor guest house in Charlotte Amalie on Friday morning. U.S. Magistrate Judge Geoffrey Barnard charged them with unlawful entry and remanded them to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for 10 days.
Court documents identify the four as Ra Ed Awad Mustafa Alghazawi, 33; Yaser Mohammad Hammad, 25; Eyad Ahmad Abdel Mustafa, 30; and Amer Abdel Rahim, 20.
Saturday's action continued a series of raids led by federal investigators that began last Tuesday when a team of agents and police searched the Plaza Extra supermarkets on St. Thomas and St. Croix, along with several other Arab-owned supermarkets and smaller grocery stores on both islands. People who were interviewed in some of the searches have said the agents asked questions in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the mainland. No arrests or charges were reported as a result of those raids.
On Thursday, a team of federal agents arrested eight individuals indentified by authorities as Syrian nationals at the Bunker Hill Hotel in Charlotte Amalie. Those men remain in custody on illegal immigration charges and also are expected to return to District Court on Tuesday.
The investigation continues into the men's activities, and prosecutors may bring other charges, including harboring aliens, against one or more of the defendants, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Mabe said. Federal prosecutors will request that the men be detained until their case is resolved, he said.
Defense attorneys for the four objected to the detention order on Friday, and part of Tuesday's hearing is expected to center on that issue.
INS investigators have said that some of the men arrived on St. Thomas in January of 2000, while the others came in February of this year. All arrived by boat from St. Martin, according to INS Special Agent William Monk.
