[This is the story from the Austin American statesman.]

The crisis that never was

By Jason Spencer
American-Statesman Staff
Saturday, October 21, 2000

The alert to local police in early September was ominous and, it
turns out, a bit dramatic: Somebody is illegally driving around
Austin with diplomatic license plates from Sudan. "Use caution
with vehicle occupants as Sudan is supportive of international
terrorism."

University of Texas police officer Tom Owens spotted the
suspicious Pontiac several weeks later, pulled it over and
unknowingly launched an international incident on the streets of
Austin.

"Do you remember . . . that diplomat plate we were supposed to be
on the lookout, what that tag number was?" Owens asked his
dispatcher Monday.

"It was David, King, X-ray 028 on an old beat-up green Pontiac
Grand Am," her voice crackled back over the radio.

"028 King, X-ray, David, right?" he said, reading the plate in
front of him correctly as 028 KXD. "Am I supposed to stop that
vehicle?"

"It needs to be stopped."

Minutes later, the city's emergency operations center was
activated and the FBI and Texas Army National Guard were called
in to investigate whether a chemical or biological agent sent
Owens into an apparent seizure. Firefighters donned protective
suits and set up chemical decontamination tents while the
Sudanese ambassador's nephew sat quietly in the median near 15th
Street and Lamar Boulevard.

No chemicals were found in the car's trunk, and police released
Musab Elkobani, 20, more than three hours later without filing
charges.

The Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, Elfatih Mohamed
Ahmed Erwa, is not happy. The envoy wants to know why Austin
police were looking for the car his son uses to get from his home
in Leander to class at UT. Erwa's nephew also uses the car, and
in this case had just dropped off his cousin at school.

Erwa has asked the U.S. State Department to launch a formal
investigation, but that's not going to happen, said Bob Moller,
with the State Department Office of Host Country Affairs. Such
complaints are referred to local jurisdictions -- in this case,
the Austin police.

So, what happened? And why did Austin police issue the alert in
the first place?

The first question is easier to explain, police said, blaming
smelly mildew and the fear of international terrorism. As for the
alert, police are blaming sloppy note-taking.

"It turned out the plates were legit, the car was legit, and
there was no issue," Austin Assistant Police Chief James Fealy
said.

Austin police issued the bulletin after hearing from a man they
refuse to identify, Fealy said. The caller was familiar enough
with diplomatic license plates to know that the letters "KX"
indicate the driver is from Sudan, Fealy said. The informant
wrote down the plate number and gave it to police.

A 1999 State Department report listed Sudan as a "central hub for
several international terrorist groups," including one belonging
to Osama bin Laden, accused of masterminding the 1998 bombings of
U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224.

Following up on the tip, police contacted the State Department
and asked about the license plate. Somewhere along the way, the
numbers got jumbled.

A State Department check of the incorrect number -- 028 DKX --
found that the plates belonged to a Sudanese diplomat who left
the country more than 10 years ago, Fealy said.

"They indicated to us that . . . if they're being used now, it's
probably misappropriation of government property," he said. After
hearing that, police issued the bulletin.

All was quiet until Monday, when Owens spotted the car on Windsor
Road and followed it to Lamar Boulevard and 15th Street. He
stopped the car and got Elkobani's permission to search the
trunk, according to a UT police report.

Two other officers were with Owens when he opened the trunk,
heard a popping sound and experienced what seemed to be a
seizure, police reports said.

"I felt what a lot of us felt in the hot zone -- dryness of the
mouth; irritation of the mucous membranes, the throat;
lightheadedness. I had a coughing spell," said UT police Capt.
Silas Griggs. "The trunk had a very distinctive, very pungent
odor."

Owens was rushed to Brackenridge Hospital, where he was treated
and released the following day. He has yet to return to duty.

Police roped off the scene and called for help, shutting down
busy Lamar and warning a TV news helicopter to stay upwind.

Elkobani told officers he had just driven the ambassador's son to
UT and was on his way to class at Austin Community College, the
UT police report said. Elkobani blamed the strange odor in the
trunk on a combination of cleansers he used to remove a mildew
smell from the leaky trunk, the report said.

After determining the car was safe, police handcuffed the
ambassador's dumbfounded nephew and drove him to headquarters for
questioning. Elkobani was released after his cousin told police
he had permission to use the car, Fealy said.

Back at the Leander home he shares with the ambassador's two
sons, Elkobani said he wants to consult a lawyer before publicly
discussing the incident.

His uncle is less reticent.

"I am in contact with (the State Department) regarding this
matter, and we are handling it through diplomatic means and
channels," Erwa said from the Sudanese mission in New York. "I
cannot prejudge it, but I think the problem is not with the
Austin police. The problem is from where the information came and
how was it verified."

Fealy stands by the department's handling of the situation.
"Procedurally," he said, "I think everything worked the way it
should."