January 5, 2000
Web posted at: 11:58 a.m. EST (1658 GMT)

In this story: Link to other arrested Algerians? Timeline of suspect's activities Two more hearings ahead RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

SEATTLE (CNN) -- Investigators are trying to determine if a second Algerian man arrested in Washington state may be linked to an alleged attempt last month to smuggle explosives into the United States from Canada. At the moment, however, authorities say they have no evidence tying Abdel Hakim Tizegha to terrorist activity.

VIDEO CNN's Aram Roston describes the evidence authorities have against Tizegha. (January 4) Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD 2000 threats and fears Canada today

Tizegha, 29, faces a detention hearing on Wednesday.

At a hearing Monday in Seattle, he was charged with re- entering the United States without permission and with eluding examination by Immigration and Naturalization Service officials when he entered the country in November at Blaine, about 100 miles north of Seattle.

Tizegha was arrested December 24 in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue.

Law enforcement sources tell CNN they believe Tizegha may have associated with two other Algerian men:

• Ahmed Ressam, 32, who faces five federal counts in connection with bomb-making materials found in his rental car as he entered the country by ferry from Canada. Ressam was arrested on December 14.

• Abdel Ghani, who was arrested in New York last week as an alleged accomplice to Ressam. Ghani allegedly traveled to Seattle to meet with Ressam and had planned to help him raise money.

For now, the sources say, there is not enough evidence to tie Tizegha to the explosives smuggling case -- and court documents revealed during Monday's hearing did not show any connection to Ressam.

"We're not quite sure what we have yet, but we will keep investigating," one official told CNN.

According to Monday's court documents, Tizegha:

• First entered the United States in 1993 as a stowaway aboard a ship.

• Stayed in Boston, where he applied for political asylum. The request was denied in April 1997, and an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals was denied last June.

• Was given 30 days to leave the country but disappeared instead.

• Moved to Seattle in the winter of 1998.

• Went in August 1999 to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he applied for refugee status -- a request that apparently is still pending.

• Re-entered the United States in late November by sneaking across the U.S.-Canadian border on foot, then catching a bus to Seattle from Bellingham in far northern Washington.

• Stayed with a roommate in Bellevue until his arrest. The roommate, who told FBI agents on December 30 that he had known Tizegha for about 14 months, was not identified. The roommate said he burned Tizegha's bus ticket from Bellingham at Tizegha's request.

In addition to Wednesday's detention hearing, Tizegha faces another hearing January 14, when the government must either indict him or show cause why he should remain in custody.

Charging Tizegha with INS violations would allow authorities to keep him in custody as they investigate whether he had any role in a potential terrorist bombing plot or a connection to Ressam, law enforcement officials said.

They said Tizegha was in INS custody before federal agents fanned out around the country last week to question people possibly linked to Ressam. As a result of that effort, about 15 people -- mostly Algerians -- were either charged with criminal violations or held in civil detention.

Last week, federal prosecutors said Ressam and Lucia Garofalo, a Canadian woman caught crossing the U.S. border in Vermont five days after Ressam's arrest, were both linked to an Islamic militant group in Algeria.

Correspondent Aram Roston and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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