FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CRM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1995                         (202)514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

    WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING SUSPECT APPREHENDED IN PAKISTAN

     Attorney General Janet Reno said today that Ramzi Ahmed
Yousef, a fugitive indicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
in New York City, has been arrested abroad and returned to the
United States by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to be tried on
the bombing charges.
     Reno said "Yousef was apprehended in Pakistan and turned over
to American authorities to face charges of taking part in a bombing
that killed six persons and injured more than 1,000 others."
     Reno said Yousef was taken into custody Tuesday in Pakistan,
turned over to FBI agents there, and then flown aboard a U.S.
aircraft to New York last night.
     FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said "The FBI has conducted a
world-wide search for Yousef since he was charged shortly after the
bombing on February 26, 1993."  Yousef was first indicted on March
11, 1993, and named in a fifth superseding indictment on September
1.
     Freeh said "Other parts of the federal government that made
invaluable contributions to the investigation were the Department
of State, including its Diplomatic Security Service, and the Drug
Enforcement Administration."
     United States Attorney Mary Jo White of the Southern District
of New York said "Yousef is expected to be arraigned in Manhattan
Federal Court on Thursday."
     White said "The message that this sends is that we will pursue
accused terrorists wherever they seek to hide and bring them to
justice."
     Four of Yousef's co-defendants were convicted of federal
charges on March 4, 1994, in the World Trade Center bombing:
Mohammad Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima, and Ahmad
Mohammad Ajaj.  They have each been sentenced to 240 years of
imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
     The indictment charged Yousef, 27, who was born in the Middle
East, with 11 counts relating to the World Trade Center bombing. 
The most serious charges carry a maximum penalty upon conviction of
life in prison without parole.
     The indictment said Yousef, using a false name, flew to New
York from Pakistan in September 1992, and later purchased
chemicals.  In January and February 1993, the indictment said,
Yousef and other co-conspirators mixed chemicals in a Jersey City,
New Jersey, apartment to produce explosive materials.
     The co-conspirators caused an explosive device to detonate in
a van in a garage area beneath the World Trade Center complex on
February 26, 1993, the indictment said.  On the same day, Yousef
again used a false name when he boarded a flight in New York City
for Pakistan, the indictment said.
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95-078