The Moving Vans of Zion : Melbourne Indymedia

Two men arrested after high-speed chase in Tennessee

The Associated Press

ERWIN, Tenn. (AP) - Two Israeli men who led the Unicoi County sheriff on a high-speed chase in a rented moving truck were placed under arrest and are being investigated by the FBI, local officials said.

SHMUEL DAHAN* and Almaliach Naor, both from Israel, were being held without bond Sunday afternoon at the Unicoi County Jail. The truck, rented from a Ryder office in Mars Hills, N.C., was being held in the county garage pending an FBI investigation, officials said.

Dahan is charged with reckless driving, littering, false identification and evading arrest, while Naor faces charges of false identification and evading arrest, an officer with the Unicoi County Sheriff's Department who would not give his name said Sunday.

An investigation by the FBI is ongoing and more charges are possible, he said. A woman who answered the phone at the FBI's Knoxville office said there was no one available to answer questions about the arrest.

The incident began late Saturday afternoon when Sheriff Kent Harris noticed a rental truck traveling at a high speed along former U.S. Highway 23, a lightly-traveled highway near the North Carolina state line.

"I was really concerned because the driver would not stop after I flashed my headlights for nearly three miles," Harris said. "He was weaving back and forth and I was wondering what a large (rental truck) was doing on the two-lane highway late Saturday afternoon instead of the faster I-26 Interstate."

Harris said he saw the men throw something from the truck while they were being pursued. Officers scouring the area later found a vial containing an unknown substance along the roadway, he said.

Once the men were apprehended, officers also found a "Learn to Fly" brochure in the truck, leading Harris and others to express concern about security at the Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin.

"I GOT A SICK FEELING WHEN I SAW IT," Harris said.

Dahan also gave authorities a fake Florida driver's license issues in Plantation, Fla., he said, while Naor produced a fake identification card.

Harris subsequently contacted the FBI, the federal Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms and other local authorities to look into the situation.

"We're not overreacting," Harris said. "We have a responsibility to protect the citizens of Unicoi County and that's what I'm going to do at any cost. I'd rather overreact, if that's what you call it, than be sorry later."

http://newsobserver.com/nc24hour/ncnews/v-print/story/3575253p-3177621c.html

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040509/APN/405090709
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Two Israeli men have been arrested after evading Unicoi County, Tennessee sheriff`s deputies, driving eratically on a two lane highway, and littering.

But, there may be more to their apprehension than that.

Sheriff Kent Harris says the stories they`ve been telling investigators simply DON'T ADD UP.

The two men led authorities on a three-mile high speed chase in a rented moving truck.
Lt. Ron Arnold says one of the men had a fake Florida i.d. and passports found didn`t add up.
The FBI is now testing a bottle thrown from the truck during the pursuit.
Robert White, the community member who found the bottle, says it had a powder and liquid in it.
Sheriff Harris says the substance didn`t test for any type of drug, but did for a fuel source.
The driver, 23-year old SAMUEL DAHAN and passenger 19-year old Almaliach Noar claim they were delivering furniture and were headed to Boston, Massachusetts.
Authorities found a couple of "learning to fly" business cards during a search of the moving truck.
Both men are being held in seperate cells pending a bond hearing Monday morning.
Investigators have determined both men are living in the United States legally.
http://www.wcyb.tv/newsread.asp?newsid=4381
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World Briefs - The Daily Texan - World & Nation
... he loses. LIKUD SPOKESMAN SHMUEL DAHAN said the date was chosen at a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee. If he wins ...
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The Jerusalem Post Newspaper : Online News From Israel - News ...
... Likud spokesman Shmuel Dahan said that the Likud does not interfere in the business of other parties and that the Likud youth were in the North over the ...
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/09/03/News/News.33978.html - 34k - 9 May 2004
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The Jerusalem Post Newspaper : Online News From Israel - News ...
... Any government formed after the elections would be bound by this decision," said Shmuel Dahan, spokesman for the National Union of Israeli Students. ...
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