Officials say tape does not prove terrorist threat to LV

Jace Radke

Friday, Aug. 30, 2002 | 9:45 a.m.

Law enforcement officials are saying that a recovered videotape depicting parts of the MGM Grand hotel does not make Las Vegas a target for terrorist attacks.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said even with Wednesday's indictment of five alleged terrorists in Detroit and the discovery of the videotape found in their belongings, there is no credible threat to Las Vegas.

"We are in contact daily with the FBI. We have no information that Las Vegas or Southern Nevada is a target," he said. "Thousands of people walk through (the resorts with video cameras) every single day."

A federal law enforcement source said that, "there is no threat information that would indicate Las Vegas is a target, and any potential threat which would have been presented by the videotape was mitigated by the arrest of the individuals in Detroit."

Federal grand juries charged six men Wednesday with conspiring with al-Qaida, the first in what authorities described as new terrorism charges filed against American citizens and foreigners living here.

Five men were charged in Detroit with providing support to al-Qaida and operating as an underground support for terrorist attacks within and outside the United States. A search of a Detroit apartment linked to the men resulted in a cache of documents detailing future attacks in Turkey and Jordan as well as a videotape with footage of the MGM and Disneyland in California.

The indictment alleges that Karim Koubriti, Ahmed Hannan, Youssef Hmimssa, Abdella (last name not known), and Farouk Ali-Haimoud conspired to "cause economic harm to U.S. businesses."

All of the men except Abdella are in custody.

A sixth man was indicted in Seattle on allegations that he provided safe houses and was building a training camp in Oregon for teaching terrorists how to fight a "violent jihad" or holy war.

Omar Abdul-Fatah Hamed Shishani, was arrested in Denver weeks ago. He is known for his community work and was once given the key to the city of Seattle. Ujaama says he was given the key to to Las Vegas and honored by Sen. Harry Reid, though officials with the city and with Reid's office have no record of the instances.