JEDDAH, 16 October — Saudi pilot Khaled Alzeedi, sought for questioning by FBI agents in connection with the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, expressed amazement at being targeted by the US agency. He is the owner of Zidi Aviation Company. The FBI had put his name on the list of 370 people to be probed. He was questioned for purchasing two small planes and leaving Tennessee shortly before the suicide bombings.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper by telephone from Morocco, Alzeedi said the FBI agents and Federal Aviation Authority officers — who met him in Morocco —were suspicious about his intention following the purchase of the planes.
"We have given them all information and explained to them the details of the purchase of the two planes," he said.
His three Saudi assistants, Rami Muqaddam, Muhammad Allaf and Vice Chairman Raid Baghdadi accompanied Alzeedi. "We are based in Morocco and train pilots. At present 15 Saudis are being trained," he told the Arabic daily.
"The purchase of the two planes was carried out according to the standard norms and procedures. We met officials of the aircraft company Outlaw Aircraft Sales of Clarksville, Tennessee. The company’s airfield and hangars are less than a mile from Fort Campbell, the home of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
We received one plane and could not accept the order of the second plane as it was not ready. "We had to leave the first plane too in the US, at the Portland airport in Maine, after we discovered that its fuel tank had not been installed," he said. Since the attacks, the FBI has questioned employees of a Nashville hotel where Alzeedi stayed, as well as the broker who was involved in the sale of the two planes, and seized records of Zidi Aviation.
A top FBI official told the Associated Press on Sunday that the bureau did not believe Alzeedi had any connection to the Sept. 11 hijackings. "The FBI wants to interview Alzeedi in connection with a matter remains totally unrelated to the hijackings, FBI assistant director John Collingwood said in Washington. Alzeedi said he and his three assistants were in the US on Aug. 4 to purchase the two planes and stayed there till Aug. 28, which was the date of delivery of the two aircraft. We stayed at the Nashville hotel and the Hilton hotel.
After leaving the plane in Portland, they boarded an Air Moroc flight to Casablanca. "We planned to return to the US in September to accept the order of our planes but had to delay our departure because of the unfolding events."
Alzeedi was suspected by the FBI of moving the two planes to an unknown place. "I had not taken them to any unknown place but flew it to Portland airport. They knew that," he said.
Alzeedi is a former Saudi Arabian Airlines’ pilot. He served the airline for 13 years.
