BUFFALO, N.Y., July 17 (UPI) -- An alleged associate of reputed terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden Wednesday faced deportation to Syria by mid-October and will not be tried for terrorism, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Nabil al Marabh, who worked in the Detroit area and was arrested in a Chicago suburb shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiracy to commit alien smuggling. He was accused of trying to sneak across the Canadian border into Lewiston, N.Y., in a tractor-trailer with the aid of two accomplices. The incident occurred June 27, 2001.
"Our case here was primarily about an attempt by al Marabh to smuggle himself into the United States," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Gromis said. "We are not raising concerns about terrorism in our case. We are not prepared at this time to present evidence against him for any terrorist activity."
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that al Marabh is still considered a "very bad guy," but prosecutors don't have enough evidence to pursue more serious charges. He was identified as a bin Laden agent by Raed Hijazi, who was convicted of conspiring to bomb Jordanian tourist sites popular with Americans and Israelis.
Detroit attorney Mark Kriger said al Marabh is not a terrorist.
"It was clear to me based on my conversation with him that he was not a terrorist, had never been a terrorist, but got swept up in the hysteria after Sept. 11," Kriger, who met with al Marabh in March, told the Detroit Free Press.
Al Marabh's name turned up on a watch list after Sept. 11 after he allegedly transferred money to a bin Laden associate in the Middle East. The 35-year-old Kuwaiti native was arrested Sept. 19 at a liquor-convenience store in the Chicago suburb of Burbank and was sent to Buffalo as a material witness. When he was arrested, he had fake Canadian citizenship papers. He also was wanted by Boston police for violating parole in a stabbing incident.
Al Marabh had been living in the Detroit area and working as a truck driver. He had multiple Michigan driver's licenses.
Three other men were arrested when investigators raided the apartment in southwest Detroit where al Marabh had lived and seized bogus identification documents along with a notebook containing sketches of Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, which is used by U.S. planes to patrol Iraq, and sketches of an airport in Amman, Jordan. A fourth man was arrested in Iowa on charges relating to the documents. It was unclear what effect al Marabh's deportation would have on the four.
Al Marabh is expected to be deported shortly after he is sentenced Oct. 17.
