Thread: EGYPTIAN STUDENTS VANISH IN BIG APPLE

EGYPTIAN STUDENTS
VANISH IN BIG APPLE

By DAN MANGAN

* Aug. 5: Feds issue a nationwide alert, saying the students are wanted for questioning.

August 8, 2006 -- Eleven Egyptian students who were supposed to travel to a Montana university after flying to JFK airport late last month disappeared in New York, spurring federal authorities to issue a nationwide alert, officials said yesterday.

The students - who were traveling with six classmates from Mansoura University in Egypt - had their student visas revoked for failing to show up at Montana State University in Bozeman, the officials said.

The other six students made it to the college.

"The FBI and ICE [Immigration and Custom Enforcement] would like to locate these 11 students in order to speak with them," said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko after the "be-on-the-lookout" alert was issued to all police in the United States.

Kolko said there is no reason to believe the missing students, all men around 20 years old, represent a threat.

"At this point, all they have done is not show up for a scheduled academic program, and their visas have been revoked," Kolko said.

"We do not know of any association with any terrorist or criminal groups. There is no threat associated with these men. We have simply asked law enforcement's assistance in locating them so that the FBI and ICE may interview them."

Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the situation "has to be taken very seriously."

"Having a number of students from an Arab country arriving on student visas and disappearing is cause for concern," he said.

Montana State University Provost David Dooley said 17 Mansoura University students signed up for a 32-day cultural-exchange program to intensively study English, learn about Montana history and go on several field trips.

They arrived at JFK on a flight from Egypt on July 29, but only one managed to clear immigration in time to make a connecting flight, Dooley said.

By July 31, five others had arrived in Bozeman, but the rest were unaccounted for.

Dooley said the ones who showed up "were not certain about the status of their fellow students and why they haven't made it."

MSU alerted federal Homeland Security and Mansoura officials and notified the students via e-mail they had 24 hours to show up in Bozeman. None of them did, Dooley said.

He added, "We're very disappointed by this. It would be regrettable if the misadventures or irresponsibility of a number of students damaged these kinds of programs."

Officials at the Egyptian Consulate in New York and the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said they were unfamiliar with the situation.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews ... mangan.htm

Kolko said there is no reason to believe the missing students, all men around 20 years old, represent a threat.

No, I'm sure they all just went to Disneyworld and lost track of the time.

MSU alerted federal Homeland Security and Mansoura officials and notified the students via e-mail they had 24 hours to show up in Bozeman. None of them did, Dooley said.

He added, "We're very disappointed by this. It would be regrettable if the misadventures or irresponsibility of a number of students damaged these kinds of programs."

Well, we sure don't want that! How would we ever be able to fill our colleges and universities if we didn't import students from the Middle East?

"Having a number of students from an Arab country arriving on student visas and disappearing is cause for concern," he said.

Gee, really? I would think so!!!!

Then again....wouldn't that be racial profiling? Maybe they should just wink and nod as usual and go harrass some elderly people in a nursing home so they appear "fair".

Originally Posted by CountFloyd

Kolko said there is no reason to believe the missing students, all men around 20 years old, represent a threat.

No, I'm sure they all just went to Disneyworld and lost track of the time.

[quote:3hhxfquy]MSU alerted federal Homeland Security and Mansoura officials and notified the students via e-mail they had 24 hours to show up in Bozeman. None of them did, Dooley said.

He added, "We're very disappointed by this. It would be regrettable if the misadventures or irresponsibility of a number of students damaged these kinds of programs."

Well, we sure don't want that! How would we ever be able to fill our colleges and universities if we didn't import students from the Middle East?[/quote:3hhxfquy]

American higher education at its finest:

FBI: Approach Missing Egyptians with Caution

The FBI has issued an urgent nationwide alert for 11 Egyptian students who entered the United States last week but failed to show up for their courses at Montana State University.

An FBI advisory says there are, at present, no known connections to any terrorist group but that the students are to be "approached with caution" and taken into custody. They "are here illegally and wanted for questioning," the advisory says.

The advisory comes just over a month before the five-year anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States.

"This is of very serious concern and is being closely tracked," said Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The FBI says the Egyptians arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on July 29 and disappeared. The advisory says the alert is nationwide but that there is specific concern the Egyptians may be on the Eastern Seaboard.

According to the advisory the 11 missing Egyptians are:

1. Ibrahim, El Sayed Ahmed Elsayed; DOB OF 4/29/1986.

2. El Dessouki, Eslam Ibrahim Mohamed; DOB OF 02/21/1985.

3. El Bahnasawi, Alaa Abd El Fattah Ali; DOB OF 04/02/1986.

4. Abd Alla, Mohamed Ragab Mohamed; DOB OF 02/15/1984.

5. El Laket, Ahmed Refaat Saad El Moghazi; DOB OF 09/01/1986.

6. El Ela, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou; DOB OF 02/02/1985.

7. El Moghazy, Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed; DOB OF 08/08/1986.

8. Abdou, Ebrahim Mabrouk Moustafa; DOB OF 02/25/1984.

9. El Gafary, Moustafa Wagdy Moustafa; DOB OF 07/01/1988.

10.Maray, Mohamed Saleh Ahmed; DOB OF 09/12/1985.

11.El Shenawy, Mohamed Ibrahim Fouaad; DOB OF 08/12/1988.


http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/200 ... ch_mi.html

Originally Posted by crazybird

Then again....wouldn't that be racial profiling? Maybe they should just wink and nod as usual and go harrass some elderly people in a nursing home so they appear "fair".

You make a good point.

How are "the authorities" supposed to find these guys?

They can't do it by appearance, since that would be racial profiling. Better we should endure one hundred 9/11's before we stoop to that!

Oh well, what's another 11 illegals when you've already got 30 million?

I'm skeptical. . .what's the big deal with the FBI alert, when we probably lose lose thousands of Egyptians on student visas per year?

Is the University of Montana the only school that reports student "no-shows" like this?

I wish this were put into some kind of reasonable perspective.