Promise of Drugs Lured Hijacking Suspect to Arrest

WASHINGTON — A suspected Lebanese terrorist arrested by the FBI this week on hijacking charges was lured to a rendezvous in the Mediterranean Sea by undercover agents who promised that they could supply him with a large quantity of drugs, authorities said Friday.

As a result of the “sting” operation, the suspect, Fawaz Younis, “voluntarily” boarded a yacht rented by the FBI, which assigned agents to pose as the vessel’s crew, said authorities who spoke on condition of anonymity.

New details of the suspect’s seizure emerged as Younis, 28, remained under heavy guard at a secret location near Washington to await a bond hearing Tuesday. After being flown to the capital on a U.S. military aircraft, Younis was charged in a federal indictment Thursday with conspiracy, hostage-taking and destruction of an aircraft in connection with the 1985 hijacking of a Jordanian airliner in Beirut, on which four Americans were passengers.

One source, referring to the daring arrest of Younis last Sunday, said that two “casually attired” female FBI agents also were aboard the yacht because Younis “would have been suspicious to see a pleasure boat operated by an all-male crew wearing wing-tipped shoes.”

Not Attired ‘Fetchingly’

But the women agents were not attired “fetchingly” in any effort to lure Younis romantically, the source said. Rather, the suspect motored out to the FBI yacht in a smaller craft with the intention of buying drugs for resale, the source said.

Justice Department officials have declined to provide full details of Younis’ seizure, including a specific location, on grounds it could compromise similar operations in the future. One official on Friday called it “one of the best sting operations we’ve ever mounted.”

But, in parting the curtain on a few more details, authorities portrayed the yacht’s FBI crew as not unlike the undercover FBI agents who posed as Arab businessmen to carry out the congressional sting operation known as Abscam in the early 1980s. Some agents in that bribery operation had been chosen for their dark hair, mustaches and swarthy complexions.

“We had a whole new group this time,” one official said with a smile.

He said that Younis’ movements in the Middle East had been tracked generally, but not each day, for several months. “We had heard he was into drug trafficking,” this official said, “and we decided to give him an opportunity.”

The official said that no actual drugs were aboard the FBI-rented yacht because Younis was seized as soon as he stepped on board. “He was in handcuffs before he even knew what happened,” the source said.

So circumspect were the agents, he said, that they took the precaution of reading Younis his Miranda rights in Arabic while he was aboard the yacht.

The source refused to say whether Younis boarded the yacht with any associates, saying that “the matter is too sensitive.”

Transferred to Carrier

Younis was transferred from the yacht to the U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga in the north-central Mediterranean near the island of Corsica, where it was taking part in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise. From there he was flown to Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington without touching down in any foreign country, authorities said.

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, in announcing the arrest Thursday, called it “the first overseas arrest by U.S. law enforcement officials of a suspected terrorist being sought under U.S. laws.”

Under ‘Long-Arm’ Laws

Meese emphasized that the apprehension of Younis was accomplished without the assistance of any other nation. His arrest was carried out under so-called “long-arm” anti-terrorist laws passed by Congress in 1984 and 1986, enabling federal agents to apprehend terrorists in foreign countries who have committed crimes against American citizens.

Younis, upon conviction, could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. He could have faced the death penalty if any Americans had died in the hijacking. But all 73 passengers and crew were released unharmed, except that the hijackers allegedly assaulted some crew members and beat several Jordanian sky marshals aboard the aircraft.