International hunt under way for bin Laden deputy

Ashcroft: More may have held licenses for hazardous materials

Aiman al Zawahri

LYON, France (CNN) -- Interpol issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for an Egyptian-born surgeon reported to be Osama bin Laden's deputy, the international police organization said in a statement.

Interpol said it was posting the notice, the equivalent of an all-points bulletin, at the request of Egyptian police for Aiman al Zawahri, a leader of the al Jihad terrorist group.

The action by Interpol came as the investigation into the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States continued to expand around the world: Four people were detained in Paris Tuesday in connection with a planned attack on the U.S. Embassy there and other U.S. targets in France, police said. U.S. investigators, meanwhile, were traveling to Germany to determine whether the origins for the attacks were developed by terrorists who met in that country, according to a report.

On another front, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday "several individuals" who may have links to the hijackers implicated in this month's terrorist attacks had sought or held licenses to transport hazardous materials.

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Ashcroft also said Tuesday the U.S. border with Canada was a "transit point" for suspected terrorists and said the administration will beef up its surveillance there. Some of the 19 hijackers named in the September 11 attacks are believed to have entered the United States through Canada.

"We have taken for granted our northern border, with excellent friends we have in Canada," Ashcroft said, noting that there are "fewer than 500 people basically supervising enforcement along the northern border," compared to 9,000 along the U.S. border with Mexico.

In other developments in the investigation:

-- Several of the hijacking suspects sent money and a mysterious package to overseas contacts before the terrorist attacks, according to law enforcement sources close to the investigation.

-- The U.S. government lifted its ban on crop-dusting flights; the planes had been grounded amid fears of biological or chemical attack.

-- A Texas doctor who had been detained by the FBI as a material witness in the investigation has been released, law enforcement sources said. Dr. Albader Alhazmi, a San Antonio radiologist, was released Monday night. He was not charged with any crime.

Man sought believed to be behind Sadat assassination

Interpol said police in its 179 member countries were formally requested to try to trace al Zawahri and, if successful, immediately notify the Cairo Interpol Bureau.

Zawahri, a trained physician, is considered to have masterminded several terrorist operations in Egypt. Al Jihad is suspected of being behind the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

"He is accused of criminal complicity and management, for the purpose of committing premeditated murders, of the storage and possession of firearms, ammunition and explosives, of destruction of property, and of document forgery," Interpol said in a statement.

"He was also in charge of recruiting and training members of his organization, of weapons financing and outside communications," Interpol added.

U.S. sources said al Zawahri, born in Egypt in 1951, is believed to be in Afghanistan with bin Laden.

Possible origins in Germany

VIDEO CNN's Allan Dodds Frank reports on the money trail that may lead to Osama bin Laden (September 25) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) A suspect in the bombing of a U.S. Navy ship in Yemen may have met one of the alleged hijackers. CNN's Catherine Bond reports (September 25) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Sheila MacVicar reports on the movements of Mohamed Atta, one of the suspected hijackers (September 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

In France, the four people detained Tuesday were added to the eight people already in custody in connection with an alleged plot against U.S. interests. They were apprehended by counter-intelligence officers, acting on orders of magistrates probing terrorist threats made against U.S. interests, and were being questioned. According to French authorities, the U.S. Embassy in Paris was among the possible targets.

French authorities opened a probe into whether U.S. interests in France were under threat from attacks the day before suicide hijackers smashed planes into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that U.S. investigators are now looking into whether the terrorist attacks had origins in Germany and then branched out to various parts of the United States, including Newark, New Jersey, Boston, Massachusetts, Florida and Maryland.

Information developed in Germany may hold new hope for the investigation, the Times reported. Two men are being sought in that country who are suspected of being directly involved in the plot.

One of the alleged hijackers, Mohamed Atta, who is believed to have played a central role in coordinating the plots, lived in Hamburg, Germany, while attending a university.

Suspicions of links between hijackers, hazardous materials

On Capitol Hill, Ashcroft, speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the U.S. probe had revealed "several individuals, including individuals who may have links to the hijackers, who fraudulently have obtained or attempted to obtain hazardous material transportation licenses."

U.S. law enforcement sources had previously cited only one man who had sought a license to transport hazardous materials. Nabil Al-Marabh, 34, was taken into custody outside Chicago last week by FBI agents investigating the September 11 attacks.

The attorney general also cited the U.S. border with Canada as a "transit point" for suspected terrorists and said the administration will increase its surveillance there. Some of the 19 hijackers named in the September 11 attacks are believed to have entered the United States through Canada.

"We don't want this to be an area of vulnerability," added Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, chairman of the committee.

To date, federal authorities have detained or arrested 352 people in connection with the investigation. None has been charged with a crime directly related to the hijackings. A hunt is on for another 392 individuals who may have information about the terrorist attacks, Ashcroft said.

The investigation has resulted in 324 searches, 103 court orders and 3,410 subpoenas, Ashcroft said.

-- CNN correspondents Kelli Arena, Eileen O'Connor and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.