A Recipe for Trouble
White powder would make anybody suspicious, but Dean and Johnson also found timers, mysterious-looking little black boxes, batteries, circuit boards, and more items that looked like the recipe for a bomb. The material hadn't been tested or identified, so the inspectors couldn't be sure that they were the ingredients for an explosive device. And, Ressam had plenty of identification confirming that he was Benni Noris from Quebec: a Canadian passport, eight credit cards, and a driver's license issued by the province of Quebec. There was just one small problem; he also had a second license saying he was "Mario Roig." And, Benni's passport was sporting Mario's photograph. The two different drivers' licenses were the first pieces of physical evidence supporting Dean and Johnson's instincts that things were amiss.
The Start of Something Big
Although the white powder tested negative for drugs, and Dean, Johnson, and the other Customs officials involved didn't know exactly what to make of Benni Noris and his alter ego, Mario Roig, they were pretty sure that they were on to something big. They also knew they would have to move fast if they wanted to hold their suspect because, under Federal law, a suspect detained by a Federal law enforcement agency like Customs, the FBI, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, must go before a magistrate by the following morning.
When a Canadian citizen is arrested in the U.S., it's customary for American officials to inform the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). So, Customs gave the RCMP a set of Noris/Roig's fingerprints, and the RCMP quickly matched them to one Ahmed Ressam and a series of thefts in Canada.
| In 2000, a number of Federal law enforcement agencies are testing -- and using -- biometric technologies to meet the exponential growth in passenger travel. Enforcement officials predict that in the 21st century biometric technologies such as retinal scanning, voice recognition, and"hand geometry," will be widely used to identify individuals seeking entry to the U.S. | |
| At New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, a project called INSPASS allows selected passengers speedy access into the U.S. via the use of "hand geometry." | |
| U.S. Customs has experimented with voice recognition technology used in conjunction with video and audio links at remote crossings on the Northern border. | |
| U.S. Customs uses technologies such as "density meters" and "large scale xrays" to generate images of entire railroad cars to interdict contraband in container traffic. |
