 |
| No
explosives were found in the trucks, but the Israelis were
arrested on immigration violations
|
By
Neveen A. Salem, IOL Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON
D.C., May 15 (IslamOnline) – Reports flared Tuesday, May 14, about
last week’s arrest of two men found driving a rental truck that
allegedly contained traces of explosives near a U.S. naval base in
Washington State.
IslamOnline
has received information that the two men, named Elan Ifrah and Ben
Yar Moti, were Israeli nationals who claimed they were delivering
furniture before being arrested by police for problems with their
visas.
Fox
News originally sent out a report Tuesday stating that the rented
Budget truck contained traces of TNT and RDX, a military grade plastic
explosive. However, police sources told IslamOnline that the
information was inaccurate.
IslamOnline
was told by police officials in Oak Harbor, Washington, located near
Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, that the initial positive tests were
false and that a subsequent test and a bomb-sniffing dog found no
traces of the explosive materials.
According
to Captain Rick Wallace of the Oak Harbor Police Department in
Washington, the two men driving the truck are confirmed to be Israeli
nationals and that they were arrested only on immigration violations.
He went on to state that no other criminal charges were made against
them.
“They
were Israeli,” Wallace told IslamOnline. “They presented the
arresting officer with Israeli visas that had problems,” which
eventually lead to their arrests on immigration violations.
He
went on to state that the two men were turned over to the custody of
border patrol police and that they were “last in custody of
immigration services.”
Wallace
also stated that reports that there were traces of explosives in the
truck were inaccurate.
“The
truck was first checked for by explosives by a bomb-sniffing dog and
none were found.
“A
swab test was then done and it tested positive for traces of TNT, but
another test was taken after that and it came back negative.”
He
told IslamOnline that it was found that the first test was a
“false-positive” and that it was not testing positive for
explosives, but rather, for diesel fuel.
There
were no explosives in truck that we are aware of,” Wallace asserted.
Fox News initially stated that it was told by unidentified sources
that, “traces of TNT were found on the gear lever while indications
of RDX plastic explosives were found on the steering wheel.”
