Remember those Internet rumors of aliens from various nations
having been seen photographing the World Trade Center either during
or right before the attack? At least one of them was documented
in early June 2002 in federal court records!
At that time in Philadelphia, federal prosecutors agreed to drop
two passport-fraud charges against Ashar Iqbal Butt – who, like
most Moslem militants did long before the 9/11 attack uses various
aliases – all to get him to plead guilty to the remaining felony
passport-fraud charge and (likely) deport him fast.
He first came to the attention of the FBI because he couldn’t
remember which alias he had used at a film-developing shop – and
was still stupid enough to come back again for his photos that were
all of the World Trade Center!
The photo-shop employee in Whitehall, Pennsylvania called 911
the day after the attacks, remembering how Butt – who had brought
his film in Sept. 8, 2001 and was upset that one-hour development
wasn’t available for his Kodak Advantix panoramic film – came back
the next day to pick up his film, using his first name as his last.
When the clerk couldn’t find it, Butt then told him to look for
photos for someone named Hassan – and the clerk couldn’t find them.
He stuck around and asked the clerk to check for film for Max -
which wasn’t there either. He finally left, and the clerk noticed
photos for a “Burt Asmar” – seeing Butt in some of them and all
being of the World Trade Center.
FBI review of the photos found that, not only was the entire
roll taken of photos of the World Trade Center – but the photos,
taken inside as well as outside the World Trade Center, must have
taken at least six hours to photograph.
Butt entered the U.S. on Aug. 5, 2001 at Los Angeles – on a
British passport under the name of Mobasser Mahmood. However, he
denied that to FBI and INS agents – saying instead that he really
was Mahmood and had entered at JFK International in New York City.
His statements got increasingly inconsistent from there.
The INS had Butt arrested and held without bail the day after the 9/11
attacks; in the meantime, it got Brit authorities to send a copy of the
application for Mahmood’s passport – and fast noticed that the
photo on it wasn’t of Butt. best frequent flyer credit cards 2011 By the end of Sept. 2001, the INS
lab had determined that a different photo had been substituted on
the passport Butt had.
Butt ultimately admitted to an FBI agent Oct. 15, 2001 that he
had entered the U.S. illegally – after his father paid a Pakistani
immigrant smuggler $10,000 to get Butt a fake passport.
He claimed to be a British citizen – but told FBI agents that
he had lived much of his life in Pakistan.
Petmeds coupon codes The anxiety of Butt on Sept. 9, 2001 at the photo-developing shop
suggests that he was too worried to just abandon his photos there
and go to nearby New York City to spend another afternoon taking
more photos. Did he know what was to happen two days later?
Three years later, another Paki illegal was found doing similar
reconnaissance in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.