Local FBI checked Saudis’ identities

Jace Radke

Tuesday, March 29, 2005 | 9:51 a.m.

No relatives of Osama bin Laden were on three charter flights that flew members of the Saudi Arabian royal family out of Las Vegas in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, local FBI officials said Monday.

More than 100 Saudis, including members of the royal family and their entourage, were in Las Vegas during the attacks, and each one was positively identified and investigated by local FBI agents before being allowed to leave the country, FBI spokesman Special Agent David Schrom said.

"If we had believed that there was any kind of threat posed we would not have let them (the Saudis) leave," Schrom said.

Newly released government documents reported on by the New York Times revealed the previously undisclosed flights from Las Vegas and other cities.

Schrom said that a group of Saudi citizens arrived in Las Vegas on Sept. 9, 2001, following a small earthquake in Los Angeles. The Saudis, including members of the royal family, stayed at the Four Seasons and Caesars Palace.

"We were notified of their presence after Sept. 11 and we made contact with them," Schrom said.

The Saudis remained in Las Vegas until Sept. 19, while the FBI investigated and identified them, Schrom said. Between Sept. 19 and Sept. 24 three chartered flights carrying the Saudis left McCarran International Airport's Signature Terminal.

Sheriff Bill Young, who at the time was Metro Police's deputy chief for intelligence, said he may have "caught a whiff" of the plan to evacuate the Saudis, but didn't feel it was something that Metro had to be specifically notified about.

"It was a decision made much higher up to get those people out of the country," Young said.

He added that he had no reason to believe that the Saudis posed any kind of threat to Las Vegas.

The U.S. government began reopening airspace on Sept. 13, but many flights remained grounded for days afterward.

Once the Saudi group managed to arrange chartered flights out of the country, an unidentified prince in the Las Vegas group "thanked the FBI for their assistance," according to one internal report obtained by the New York Times.

The FBI searched the chartered planes before allowing them to leave, Schrom said.

The FBI also gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, and several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, the documents show.

The FBI also gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families in Los Angeles and Orlando. The families requested the escorts because they said they were concerned for their safety, and the FBI arranged to have agents escort them to their local airports, the documents show.

The documents were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group, which provided copies to The New York Times.

The documents provide details about the FBI's interaction with at least 160 Saudis who were living in or visiting the United States and were allowed to leave the country.

The Sept. 11 commission examined the Saudi flights in its final report last year, and it found that no Saudis had been allowed to leave before national airspace was reopened on Sept. 13, 2001, and that the FBI had done screening before allowing the Saudis to leave.

At least five of the terrorists involved in the 2001 attacks, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, spent time in Las Vegas during the summer before the attacks. Authorities have not been able to determine what the men were doing in Las Vegas.

The New York Times contributed to this story.