Special Report: Aftermath of Terror
FBI Questions Pharmacies, Seeking Links Between Hijackers and Anthrax Mailings
By TOM HAMBURGER and CHAD TERHUNE Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Searching for links between the Sept. 11 terror attacks and the anthrax mailings, federal investigators are asking pharmacies in states visited by the 19 hijackers for information about prescriptions for the antibiotic drug ciprofloxacin.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation hasn't ruled out the possibility that a strictly domestic perpetrator is behind the anthrax attacks. But the inquiries to pharmacists in those states -- Florida and New Jersey -- underscore investigators' suspicions that the anthrax originated overseas, given the amount of it now known to be circulating and the fact that there have been no reported anthrax thefts at labs in the country. To date, however, they have no evidence to back up their suspicion.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he didn't know for sure whether Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda was behind the anthrax attacks. But "I'm quite sure that if al Qaeda did have access to this kind of material -- and I'm sure they're also working on it -- that they would use it if they could," he said on CBS's Face the Nation. "They're coming after us."
The U.S. government in recent days asked foreign governments whether any anthrax in their countries has been stolen or is missing as American investigators trace the source of the bacteria that has infected nine Americans in at least three and possibly six mailings.
Investigators acknowledge their efforts to track the hijackers and any possible ties to anthrax have been hampered by the more pressing need to address the immediate public threat. "We will [get to that], once public health isn't at risk," FBI spokesman Rene Salinas said.
FBI agents have visited the Huber Healthmart Drugs store in Delray Beach, Fla. A number of the hijackers lived in the area for a time.
Pharmacist Gregg Chatterton, a part owner of the Delray Beach store, said in an interview that he talked with two of the hijackers during the weeks before the Sept. 11 attack -- Mohamed Atta, the alleged ringleader, and Marwan al-Shehhi. Mr. Atta came into the store seeking treatment for reddened, burning hands, he says, while Mr. Shehhi complained of a bad cough. The pharmacist remembers Mr. Atta in particular because he was rude and was evasive in explaining what had happened to his hands.
"He knew what he had done to his hands but it was clear he didn't want to tell me," Mr. Chatterton says. He recalls asking Mr. Atta whether he worked with harsh chemicals or gardens, but he denied both suggestions, the second with a chuckle. Mr. Chatterton sold the pair Acid Mantle hand cream and Robitussin-DM cough syrup and gave them directions to a nearby clinic.
Mr. Chatterton said a man resembling Mr. Shehhi later returned to the store and got a prescription filled, but the pharmacist can't find that name in his records, so he suspects he used an alias. Mr. Chatterton says the FBI told him to expect a warrant to search his computer to look for purchases of Cipro and other antibiotics.
Pharmacists in New Jersey -- where several anthrax letters originated and where several hijackers also resided for a time -- also are being quizzed. The FBI last week sent a letter to New Jersey pharmacists requesting records "relating to prescriptions for Cipro or ciprofloxacins, 500 mg or greater, for quantities in excess of a thirty-day supply from April 1" until early October. Another pharmacy in Delray Beach, Eckerd Drug, received a similar fax from the FBI, a pharmacist there said.
Investigators also have made inquiries with health-care providers and pharmacies in the Laurel, Md., area, where several hijackers lived for a time at the Valencia Motel. An employee of a nearby family-practice clinic who was questioned by the FBI said she believes Mr. Atta visited there this summer, but the clinic has declined to provide any details.
FBI agents are also checking U.S. businesses and laboratories that keep anthrax cultures, but so far they haven't come across evidence that any domestic anthrax is missing, a senior law-enforcement official said. The discovery during the weekend of another infected letter sent to the New York Post strengthened investigators' belief that the sender had access to a relatively large quantity, the official said. That makes some investigators think "that this had to have been acquired overseas," the official said.
Even if a small amount came from a foreign source, it could have been grown and refined inside the U.S., the official said. Although the anthrax strains found in New York, Florida and Washington, D.C., appear the same, tests have revealed variation among the samples, including different particle sizes, the smallest, most-dangerous spores being found in the letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. That may signal that the perpetrator had the equipment and training to experiment with his supply of spores, the official said.
"It suggests it's somebody with access to laboratory facilities where they could prepare this stuff, but that doesn't narrow it down too much. There are a lot of places in the U.S. where this could be done," the official said.
Investigators are closely examining the interest Mr. Atta showed in crop-dusting airplanes, but they see no firm link between such aircraft and anthrax, because spreading the bacteria by airplane isn't very effective; the particles need to be spread in a confined space, they say.
Investigators are considering whether Mr. Atta was exploring the possibility of spreading some kind of chemical agent, an official said, but, "we've found nothing that supports that."
One line of inquiry involves a visit Mr. Atta is believed to have made with a companion on a plane flight into the Martin Campbell Airport, near Copperhill, Tenn., earlier this year. According to one investigator, a pilot at the airport identified Mr. Atta from a photo released by the FBI and contacted authorities. Attempts to reach the pilot during the weekend were unsuccessful, but the investigator said the witness told the FBI that Mr. Atta had shown a keen interest in Boliden Intertrade, a nearby chemicals plant. "Atta kept asking about the plant and what kind of chemicals were kept there, asking at one point if there were 'anything good,' " the investigator said. "When the guy told him it was pretty much empty now, he got mad and said that [the pilot] was lying."
The anthrax investigation is far from limited to the hijackers, and at times the possible connection seems to be only a secondary interest. The Wall Street Journal ascertained last week that six-year-old magazines with cover stories on biological and chemical warfare were still in the Jersey City, N.J., apartment of Ayub Ali Khan and Mohamad Azmath. The pair had been arrested on Sept. 12 on a train with box cutters and cash after the plane they were on was grounded in St. Louis on Sept. 11.
The FBI had said the apartment would be examined again, but as of Sunday agents hadn't returned, FBI spokeswoman Sandra Carroll said. Authorities, however, did charge a man who used to live in the apartment and work at a newsstand with the other two, Mohammad Aslam Pervez, 37, with lying to federal agents. Moreover, the landlord of an apartment in Paterson, N.J.,that some hijackers occupied said he hadn't been asked any questions related to anthrax.
Moreover, pharmacies in the Trenton area, where some anthrax-laced letters originated, have been visited by law-enforcement agents, but pharmacies near the Jersey City and Paterson apartments haven't been visited.
-- Gary Fields, David Cloud, Sarah Sparks, Mark Schoofs and Andrea Petersen contributed to this article.