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Military Translator Detained At Logan Airport

Man Allegedly Carrying Classified Documents

POSTED: 6:44 am EDT September 30, 2003
UPDATED: 2:08 pm EDT September 30, 2003

A physician working as a translator at the U.S. prison camp for terrorists in Cuba is facing charges Tuesday in Massachusetts.

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NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that Ahmed Mehalba was stopped at Logan International Airport Monday when customs agents noticed documents that may have come from the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Customs officials said that Mehalba was acting nervous, so they decided to turn Mehalba over to FBI agents for questioning after flying in from Cairo, Egypt. Documents and CD ROMs that appeared to contain classified information were found, according to officials.

Federal authorities brought him to court to face charges of making false statements to FBI agents at the airport.

Mehalba has been working as a translator at the prison camp, where suspected terrorists are being detained.

There have been at least two previous breaches of security at the prison. Mehalba's arrest follows the recent detention of Army Capt. Yousef Yee, a Muslim Chaplain, and the arrest of an Air Force translator, Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi, amidst suspicions they may have been spying for Syria. Al-Halabi, 24, was sent to the Cuban base as an Arabic language interpreter for the al-Qaida and Taliban suspects there. Al-Halabi has now been charged with espionage for allegedly e-mailing information about the camp to an unspecified "enemy".

Yee is being held in Charleston, S.C.

Officials have opened an investigation to determine if there is some sort of conspiracy.

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