JERRY HARKAVY
Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Road maps, a cookie package and a parking receipt were among items found in a rental car used by two of the men who allegedly flew a jetliner into the World Trade Center, court documents show.
The blue 2001 Nissan Altima was driven by Mohamed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari, who investigators said checked into the Comfort Inn in South Portland on the eve of the hijacking and boarded a commuter flight to Boston the next morning.
From there, they boarded American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Their car was identified and seized late on Sept. 11 at a parking garage at Portland International Jetport.
An application for a search warrant, accompanying affidavit, inventory list and other documents were disclosed Thursday in U.S. District Court.
The documents were unsealed hours after the FBI released surveillance photos and a chronology detailing how Atta and Alomari spent their final hours in Portland and appealed to the public to come forward with any additional information. They stopped at a couple of ATMs and a gas station and Atta visited a Wal-Mart, the chronology said.
The property inventory had 31 items, including hair samples taken from the car, seat belt buckles, vacuum filters, food, a Chips Ahoy package, a toothpick and maps. The affidavit did not say what areas of the country the maps covered.
The Altima was rented by Atta on the evening of Sept. 9 at an Alamo rental office in Boston, the affidavit said. It was due back at the Alamo office in Boston at 6 p.m. on the day of the attacks.
Authorities have said the two may have come to Portland to avoid attracting attention by having so many hijackers arrive at Logan.
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