LONDON, 5 October — The suspected Lebanese hijacker of the United Airlines flight No. 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept.11, Ziyad Al-Jarrah was reported to have stayed three days few months ago in a hotel complex called Circus Circus attached to a large casino and night clubs in Las Vegas. Mostly gamblers used to stay in this hotel, according to the indications given by the FBI.
The youth in his middle twenties loved a life of pleasure, lived with his girl friend in Hamburg where he studied aeronautical engineering before he left for Miami to continue his studies and training in flying. The details released by the FBI said he rented car in June from a firm in Las Vegas.
Margi Martin, an employee of a car rental company which rented a car to Jarrah, said according to the address provided by him the Lebanese youth stayed in Circus Circus where people under 21 were not allowed.
The hidden camera at the casino used to photograph all the players of the different types of gambling — roulette, black jack and poker — and therefore it was very simple to identify Jarrah among them if at all he visited the place. But the casino authorities refused to comment if he ever visited it and gambled there. Neither did they confirm nor deny if they told the FBI that Jarrah stayed there for three days and gambled there.
However, it is apparent that Jarrah after a three-day stay in Las Vegas went to Miami and from there to Lebanon in the company of his Turkish girlfriend whom he introduced to his family as his future wife.
After he returned in August to Miami, he demanded more money from his father, as reported by his uncle Jamal Jarrah. Jamal also said his father used to sent him $1500 or $2000 monthly. This time father sent $800 extra which Ziyad received on Sept. 7, his uncle said. He had called his father after receiving the money. The question remains why he should ask extra money if he was going to do the suicidal terror act four days later. However, his relatives believe that Ziyad was a victim of hijack and not a hijacker. They requested the Lebanese authorities to find out what happened to Ziyad and what the US investigations found about him.
