WELLINGTON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni pilot linked to 9/11 hijackers and deported from New Zealand as a security risk had been illegally seeking work just before being expelled, said localmedia.
Wellington-based newspaper The Dominion Post reported Monday the breach of his student visa conditions could have been enough to have him deported, but the Government stressed Sunday night that it was the threat to New Zealand's security and the nature of his activities in this country and in the United States that led to his deportation to Saudi Arabia.
On Saturday, Immigration Minister David Cunliffe confirmed that Ali was expelled under Section 72 of the Immigration Act, which provides for the immediate expulsion without appeal of a person deemed to be a threat to national security.
The Government is facing mounting pressure to explain how Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali - who flatted with Hani Hanjour, believed to be the man who flew the passenger jet into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 - was able to slip into New Zealand unnoticed on a student visa and then undergo flight training.
David Cunliffe refused Sunday night to reveal how and when officials found out about Ali.
He was able to enter New Zealand and get a visa by using a different first name from that on U.S. records, but Cunliffe expressed confidence in border security systems.
"The system worked, the man was monitored and then expeditiously deported, as he should have been," said Cunliffe.
Ali is mentioned 13 times in the 598-page report of the 9/11 Commission, set up to examine how the attacks happened and how such attacks could be prevented.
The report said he had trained to be a pilot and lived with Hanjour in Arizona. It said he was a leader at the Islamic Cultural center in Phoenix and "reportedly gave extremist speeches at the mosque." Ali was interviewed extensively by the FBI after the attacks and was put on a suspect list but never charged.
After completing an English language course in Auckland - the reason he was granted a student visa - he went to Palmerston Northand flew light aircraft at Manawatu Aero Club. He told tutors he hoped to become a commercial airline pilot in United Arab Emirates.
Peter Cozens, the executive director of Victoria University's School of Government, said that terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda would regard New Zealand flying schools as soft options for pilot training for their members.
"Certainly the brains behind al Qaeda would want to test all the boundaries they possibly can to see where the weakest link is," said Cozens.
"I wouldn't say that it's necessarily here, it could be elsewhere. Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted, so I would imagine that there's a very sophisticated operation going on here, on behalf of if not al Qaeda then one of its associates," said Cozens.
While New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Sunday she is satisfied with the way the security services handled the case of a Yemeni man.
"As some of the expert commentary has said people like this are known to probe systems, they are known to use identities that aren't quite the identity that they are known by offshore. But having said that he was detected, he has gone," said Clark. Enditem
