| Asheville
Citizen-Times Tuesday, May 11, 2004
 Chase
suspects held without bond
By Julie
Ball,
Staff Writer MARS HILL - Federal agents
investigating two Israeli men charged with eluding
Tennessee authorities found only furniture in
searching a storage unit in Madison County
[NC] Monday, according to the Unicoi
County, Tenn., sheriff. Sheriff Kent Harris said FBI agents
searched the facility, which the men reportedly
rented, but they found no evidence of anything sus-
picious. The men, 22-year-old Shmuel Dahan and
19-year-old Almaliach Naor have told
investigators they were on their way to West
Virginia to deliver furniture. They were arrested Saturday after a chase. Both men were held without bond Monday afternoon
as authorities sought to verify their
passports. Once the men were apprehended, officers found a
fake Florida driver's license with Naor's picture
on it in a duffel bag in the truck and a business
card from a Florida flight instructor in one of the
men's wallets. The card read: "Learn
how to fly" and "Fulfill your dream of flying"
and listed the name and number of a Florida
flight instructor. The discovery led Harris and others to express
concern about security at the Nuclear Fuel Services
plant in Erwin. The plant makes nuclear fuel for
submarines. Harris spotted the Ryder truck the men were in
about 3 p.m. Saturday on Old U.S. 23 near Flag
Pond, Tenn. The truck was moving erratically and
traveling at speeds of more than 60 mph, well above
the maximum speed on the curvy road, according to
Harris. The sheriff said he turned on his blue light and
siren, but the truck continued for more than two
miles before stopping. Some people attending a
cookout on Old U.S. 23 reported seeing someone in
the truck toss out a brown, plastic container
during the chase, Harris said. "They (the people at the cookout) heard us
coming and saw them throw that out," he said. Dahan is charged with reckless driving, evading
arrest, littering and false identification. Naor, a
passenger in the truck, is charged with false
identification. Dahan's attorney, William B. Lawson of
Erwin, said the men might have gotten lost and
ended up on the mountain road. "They got lost, big time," Lawson said. "It
doesn't seem like they have anything to hide." Harris said early Monday afternoon he was
waiting on the results of tests on the liquid
substance in the brown container. The bottle
contained a "gooey liquid" and some sort of
pellets. The bottle appeared as if it had once held
pesticides of some sort, but the label was missing.
Field tests done by officers turned up no evidence
of drugs. "We don't know exactly what's in it yet,"
Harris said. The men maintain the container did not come from
the truck, according to Harris. The Ryder truck
contained old furniture. The Florida flight instructor, Nissan
Giat, said he met Naor at a moving company
where the Israeli man works. Giat said he gave Naor
one of his cards, but the man didn't express
interest in flying lessons. Giat said Naor was
recently
released from the Israeli
army. "He's a good guy,"
Giat said. "He's not a terrorist."  Harris
said the men rented the truck in Florida, where
they were living and working.
The FBI confirmed both men are in the United
States legally, and neither man has a criminal
record, according to Harris. The sheriff was
waiting for word Monday on the status of one of the
men's passports.  Staff Writer Clarke Morrison
contributed to this report. Website note: we request readers to keep
their eyes open for follow-up stories on this
incident.
[FIVE ADDITIONAL PARAGRAPHS ADDED UNDER SAME
DATELINE] Citizen-Times.com Asheville
Citizen-TimesMay 11, 2004 Contents of vial
linked to Israelis not a threat By Julie Ball, Staff WriterMay 11, 2004 10:50
p.m. WITNESSES told authorities they saw someone toss
a brown bottle from the truck during the police
chase. The men maintain they did not throw out the
container. Harris said tests showed the bottle contained a
mixture of Astromid 18, Gluconic acid and water.
Astromid 18 is a latex stripper/cleaner, according
to Harris. Gluconic acid is "a slightly modified version of
glucose (a sugar)," from a safety standpoint,
equivalent to vinegar, according to Brad Sturgeon,
assistant professor in chemistry at Western
Carolina University. Harris said it's not clear why the two were
mixed together. An official from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement could not be reached Tuesday to comment
on the status of the men. Contact Ball at 232-5851 or
[email protected]. [WHOLE NEWSSTORY]ERWIN, Tenn. A bottle that authorities say was
tossed onto a Tennessee highway during a chase
Saturday contained a latex stripper and an acid
compound but didn't pose any threat of explosion,
according to the FBI and authorities in Unicoi
County. "It's really no more than littering to be
honest," said Thomas Browne, supervisor at the
FBI's Johnson City, Tenn., office. Two Israeli men arrested as a result of the
chase remained jailed Tuesday afternoon.
Immigration officials planned to hold them for a
hearing because of a problem with their passports,
said Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris. Harris said
the men had tourist passports, but they were
apparently working in the U.S. moving
furniture. Harris arrested the men Saturday after chasing
them for more than two miles. He spotted the rented
Ryder truck they were in driving "erratically" on
Old U.S. 23 in Unicoi County, just across the state
line from Madison County. Investigators found a
fake Florida driver's license in a duffel bag in
the truck and found the business card of a Florida
flight instructor in one of the men's wallets. Shmuel Dahan, 22, was charged with reckless
driving, evading arrest, littering and false
identification. Almaliach Naor, 19, was charged
with false identification. A judge on Tuesday set a
$5,000 bond for Naor and a $10,000 bond for Dahan.
Once they post bond, the men will be turned over
the immigration officials, Harris said. The two men say they were on their way to West
Virginia to deliver some furniture. Their attorney
says they got lost and ended up on the curvy,
mountain road. Witnesses told authorities they saw someone toss
a brown bottle from the truck during the police
chase. The men maintain they did not throw out the
container. Harris said tests showed the bottle contained a
mixture of Astromid 18, Gluconic acid and water.
Astromid 18 is a latex stripper/cleaner, according
to Harris. Gluconic acid is "a slightly modified version of
glucose (a sugar)," from a safety standpoint,
equivalent to vinegar, according to Brad Sturgeon,
assistant professor in chemistry at Western
Carolina University. Harris said it's not clear why the two were
mixed together. An official from Immigration and Customs
Enforcement could not be reached Tuesday to comment
on the status of the men. 
Our
dossier on The Mossad, Israel's Intelligence
service-
A
history of Mossad's overseas bungling -
-
Israelis with
fake docs arrested in Tennessee, 'how to fly'
leaflet found! Were seen to toss something else
out of Ryder truck, FBI called in |
Two
Men Arrested After High Speed Car Chase in
Tennessee
-
Apr 2004: Two
Mossad agents in Auckland court on NZ passport
forgery charges
-
Oct 2001: Six
Israelis stopped in Midwest by police traveling
in groups of three in two white sedans found to
have maps of Forida nuclear plants, released
when they showed Israeli passports
- "Thought
they were M&Ms" Former
Israeli minister Gonen Segev indicted for
smuggling 30,000 'Ecstasy' tablets, faking
passport
-
 (p.s.:)
-
-
Oklahoma
City bombing, 1995
-
| 
write to David
Irving