Highway Patrol troopers do their duty in helping to thwart terrorists

America spends millions annually on its anti-terrorism programs. For that, U.S. intelligence experts operate an intricate computerized information-gathering network that includes satellite surveillance capability.

But on Oct. 6 when a gray Chevrolet rental car was stopped for speeding 10 miles north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15, it wasn't a worldwide intelligence network or a lot of expensive surveillance gadgetry that identified a passenger on the U.S. terrorist watch list. It was a couple of those underpaid Nevada Highway Patrol troopers you often spot on the interstate medians and hate to see in your rearview mirror.

There's a lesson here not only for members of law enforcement, but for the jaded citizenry as well.

First, some background.

A few minutes after 9 p.m. near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, troopers stopped the Chevy HHR compact station wagon with five men inside. It was a routine stop on a Tuesday night. It would have been a simple matter to ticket the speeding driver, identified by a valid Minnesota driver's license as 32-year-old Somalia native Cabdulaahi Faarax.

The troopers began to suspect the driver and passengers after their simplest questions were answered inconsistently. Department of Public Safety Director Jerry Hafen reminds me troopers can only detain a driver about an hour without establishing criminal probable cause. In that narrow window, the trooper asks questions, runs names, birth dates, and other pertinent information through the computer databases, and makes judgment calls based on training and experience.

The men said they were going to San Diego for a wedding, but they couldn't seem to agree who was getting married or where they were staying.

As a reminder there's nothing like a little levity to lighten the mood when you're interviewing potential terrorists, when the troopers asked the men's birthdays they heard a surprising reply. Each was born Jan. 1 in different years.

What were the odds?

After agreeing to allow the Chevy to be searched, the troopers found $4,000 in cash in a suitcase. Nothing illegal, but it added to their suspicions. Then they ran three names through the National Crime Information Center, which indexes everything from criminal record history and fugitive warrants to stolen property and missing persons.

When one traveler's name returned as a person on the national terrorist watch list, the troopers called the FBI. After a few more questions, the men were allowed to return to the road and their final destination.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't San Diego. At least two of the men crossed the border at Tijuana and were believed to have flown to Mexico City, then on to Somalia. That's the route favored by Somalis attempting to return to their country to join the terrorist group al-Shabab, which uses the Internet to recruit soldiers to join its civil war.

At least 20 Minneapolis men of Somali descent, including the person thought be the first American suicide bomber, have slipped out of the country to fight for al-Shabab.

The five men passed through the Las Vegas Valley, but sources conflict on whether they stopped. One FBI source said the car made no stops here. But federal documents state 26-year-old Minneapolis resident Abdow Munye Abdow told the FBI he and a friend named Adam had traveled to Las Vegas, then suddenly returned to Minnesota. Abdow is charged with lying to a federal officer.

Abdow eventually admitted the truth but, according to the criminal complaint, added, "Whatever those guys are into, I'm not."

A terrorist movement's possible American connections were illuminated thanks in great part to the efforts of a couple of Nevada troopers. For all the hype and cinematic caricatures of the terrorism-fighting superhero, it's the collective efforts of street-level law enforcement that keep us safe.

Given the audacious number of miles troopers travel each shift, it would have been easy to just write the citation and move on down the highway. The NHP pays poorly, often has had its budget carved, and struggles just to achieve comprehensive radio coverage.

And they still manage to get the job done.

"Our troopers did nothing wrong," Hafen said. "They followed procedure. They followed the law."

Indeed, they did everything right. They used their training and employed criminal interdiction techniques.

That kind of professionalism deserves a bonus.

The state budget being what it is, I hope the troopers will accept an I.O.U.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.