By law, you were supposed to have a return ticket.
“A friend of mine is coming, and he will take care of it,” the man told Melendez-Perez.
“And how long have you known this person,” Melendez-Perez asked the man.
The man told him a week.
“‘You have known this person for a week, and he wants to buy you a $1,800 ticket?’ That did not make any sense. That was the first flag,” Melendez-Perez said.
Investigators now know that Melendez-Perez was questioning Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi national who was later identified as the 20th hijacker in the 9/11 attacks.
At the time, however, all Melendez-Perez could do was trust his gut.
“The more question that I asked, the fewer possible answers that I could believe, at that time. He would not tell me the name of his friend,” Melendez-Perez said.
At the same time Melendez-Pérez was questioning al-Qahtani,the lead hijacker of the 9/11 attacks, Mohamed Atta, was at OIA waiting for someone to arrive.
Investigators said Atta even used an airport payphone to dial a number later associated with the terror attacks, concerned about his missing passenger.
While Atta waited, Melendez-Perez discovered that al-Qahtani did not have a return ticket, did not have a hotel reservation, had $2,800 in cash and could not provide an explanation for his visit.
“When I was asking him questions, he got upset. He got rude,” Melendez-Perez said.“When I came out of the interview room, I told my supervisor, ‘This guy is like, you know, he’s challenging me.’”
Despite his gut feeling, the red flags would not have been enough for Melendez-Perez to deny entry to a Saudi national, who, according to Melendez-Perez, faced little scrutiny when going through customs.
“I am not sure how it is now, but back then they were almost untouchable. They are allies, you know. They got the money.”
When Melendez-Perez put al-Qahtani under oath, the Saudi national refused to answer questions. Legally, that was enough.
cont'd
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2021/09/10/orlando-airport-inspector-credited-with-denying-entry-to-the-20th-hijacker-of-911-terrorist-attacks/