Investigation Proceeds Full-Speed

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/16/2001 at 10:46 AM EDT

With one man in custody in New York, investigators operating at full speed since Tuesday's attacks on America issued a second arrest warrant for a material witness and detained 25 people for possible immigration violations, reported the Associated Press. "We are beginning to understand the ways in which this terrible crime was committed," Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Saturday. "We are at a point where there will be additional and more frequent warrants," said Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker. The Justice Department said on Saturday that a second arrest warrant for a material witness in the hijackings investigation was issued by federal prosecutors in New York. The person had not yet been arrested at the time the warrant was announced. Authorities made their first arrest in the case on Friday. A man described as a material witness in the attacks was taken into custody in New York. Officials speaking on condition of anonymity said the man arrested was the same person detained Thursday at John F. Kennedy International Airport with a fake pilot's license. None of the 25 held on immigration violations has been formally charged, either on immigration counts or with crimes related to the four hijackings, Tucker said. Some but not all of the detainees who have been interviewed are cooperating with the FBI. All are in the Immigration and Naturalization Service's custody.