mohamed-atta

The Mystery 9/11 Hijacker Photos No One Has Ever Seen

J.K. Trotter · 09/11/13 03:18PM

So here’s a mystery. In response to a recent Freedom of Information Act request, the Federal Bureau of Investigation provided Gawker with a curious case file, dated May 2002, indicating the bureau’s acquisition of three photos of 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. The photos, which remain classified, were “recovered from a passenger who was on board Spirit Airlines Flight 460 on August 23, 2001” — that is, on a flight between Fort Lauderdale and Newark, nearly three weeks before September 11. As far as we can tell, the existence of the photographs has never been publicized.