Fri, Apr 08, 2005
Suspicions Raised When He Pushed For Higher Rating
A student authorities said raised suspicions at a Georgia flight
school has been located in London after he became the subject of an
international search. The FBI said he was learning to fly at the
same field where two of the 19 9/11 hijackers took lessons and
rented aircraft.
Zayead Christopher Hajaig, 35, was learning to fly at Briscoe
Field in Gwinnett County, GA, when he began pushing his instructor
to bump his rating up -- even though his training warranted no such
increase in status.
The Atlanta Joint Terrorism Task Force issued an alert for
Hajaig earlier this week, saying he was in the US illegally, became
"aggressive" and had attempted to get a rating in spite of the fact
he hadn't completed his training.
Federal records show Hajaig began
flight training at Astron Enterprises on September 10th, 2002 --
one year before the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. WXIA-TV
reported Hajaig already had a single-engine pilot rating, but
wanted commercial, IFR and multi-engine tickets as well.
Astron Enterprises notified the Joint Task Force when Hajaig
signed up for lessons. After finding that Hajaig had no real
address, no identifiable source of income and was in the US
illegally, the FBI said it issued a warrant and put the
Nigerian-born British citizen on its no-fly list.
Hajaig was spotted in London, according to a spokesman for the
Bureau in Atlanta. But he didn't know whether Hajaig had been
arrested, detained or questioned. Those questions were referred to
the FBI's Washington headquarters.
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