AHMED MOHAMMED AJAJ
Ahmed Ajaj, a Palestinian, was born in 1966 in Jordan, the West Bank that was at that time a part of the Jordanian kingdom.
Sometime in the late 80th Ahmed Ajaj immigrated to Houston, Texas, USA and worked as a pizza delivery driver. In Huston Ahmed Ajaj got acquainted with another Palestinian Mohammed Salameh, later a member of the Al Farook Mosque in Brooklyn, New York.
Ahmed Ajaj asked in USA for political asylum and claimed that he was brutalized by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank but his request was denied by USA authority.
On 04/24/1992 Ahmed Ajaj left USA and flew from New York to Peshawar, Pakistan, with intention to join Islamic Mujahidin in Afghanistan under the alias of Ibrahim Salameh. Because Ahmed Ajaj came directly from USA without any previous background or reliability he was send back to Saudi Arabia to obtain a letter of recommendation.
On 06/14/1992 Ahmed Ajaj flew back to Peshawar via UAE and began a bomb building course in Khalden camp, later one of Al Qaeda training camps, in Aghanistan. It is most likely that in Khalden Ahmed Ajaj met Ramzi Yousef .
On 09/01/1992 Ahmed Ajaj arrived together with Ramzi Yousef to Kennedy Airport in New York on flight 703 directly from Karachi, Pakistan. They went together to parallel immigration counters. While Ramzi Yousef used a well falsified Iraqi passport, Ahmed Ajaj, with his oriental look, drew immediate attention with his crudely falsified Swedish passport under the alias Khurram Khan. In Ahmed Ajaj’s luggage immigration inspectors found another 4 falsified passports and different booklets calling for Jihad and instructions how to assemble weapons and explosives from basic home materials.
Ahmed Ajaj was, therefore, sent for incarceration in a converted warehouse in Queens, New York. Ironically he was released from detention on 03/01/1993. Only after The World Trade Center attack on 02/26/1993 investigators revealed that Ramzi Yousef and Ahmed Ajaj were constantly in contact through Ahmed Ajaj’s lawyer. Some papers found in Ramzi Yousef’s belongings identified Khurram Khan as Ahmed Ajaj. The investigators came to the conclusion that Ahmed Ajaj’s role was to cover up for Ramzi Yousef and divert the attention of the immigration inspectors in Kennedy Airport.
Ahmed Ajaj was rearrested on 03/09/1993 and was charged on taking part in the preparation previous to The World Trade Center attack of 02/26/1993. Ahmed Ajaj was convicted and sentenced to 100 years in jail. Today (02/2007) Ahmed Ajaj is in medical facility in prison and suffers from lung cancer.
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