Flight school owner who unwittingly trained 9/11 hijackers is accused of trafficking cocaine and heroin



The 56-year-old man who unwittingly provided flight training for the hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center on 9/11 is now facing charges for trafficking cocaine and heroin.

Rudi Dekkers, once the owner of the Florida flight school that trained hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, was arrested on Dec. 2 by Homeland Security agents after he was caught with a rolling suitcase full of cocaine and heroin, the Houston Chronicle reported.. The hijackers were Dekkers' students from July 1 until Dec. 24, 2000.

Dekkers was recently brought to the attention of an undercover agent through his association with 36-year-old Arturo Astorquiza, a man who was being investigated for allegedly leading an international drug trafficking organization.



Arrested: Rudi Dekkers, once the owner of the Florida flight school that trained 9/11 hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, was arrested on Dec. 2 after he was caught with a rolling suitcase full of cocaine and heroin

Investigation: Dekkers was recently brought to the attention of an undercover agent through his association with 36-year-old Arturo Astorquiza, a man who was being investigated for allegedly leading an international drug trafficking organization

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Dekkers was introduced to the agent on Oct. 31, when he brazenly stated that 'he was involved in narcotics transportation via private aircraft and that he has flown narcotics and U.S. currency previously without any problems,' according to the criminal complaint in the case.

Agents arrested Astorquiza on Nov. 5 and charged him with smuggling an AK-47 firearm to an illegal immigrant.



Undeterred by his friend's arrest, Dekkers later contacted the agent and said he would still be willing to smuggle drugs for him.

Following their Nov. 29 phone conversation, Dekkers met with the agent and said he would be paid $9,000 for transporting six kilograms of cocaine.



Connections: The 9/11 hijackers were Dekkers' students from July 1 until Dec. 24, 2000. Dekkers is pictured in 2002 in front of his flight school, which was shuttered following the terror attacks against the U.S.

'Guilty by Association:' Dekkers (left) testifies before a U.S. House of Representatives Committee concerning his involvement in providing flight training to the 9/11 hijackers



Agents then covertly watched Dekkers as he met with different men at flight schools and at a shopping mall.

At 12:20 p.m. on Dec. 2, Dekkers returned to one of the flight schools he had visited in Cypress, Texas, and met a man that agents identified as Rogelio Martinez-Flores.



Martinez-Flores handed Dekkers a blue rolling suitcase and at that moment, agents closed in on them and arrested both men. Inside the bag, agents found 18.74 kilograms of cocaine and 860 grams of heroin.

Dekkers is now facing charges of conspiracy to posses with the intent to distribute cocaine and heroin.

The former flight school owner has said his life slid into a downward spiral following the 9/11 attacks, when he was identified as the man who enrolled terrorists in his training program.

'Everywhere I come, they say, "Are you not that guy that trained terrorists?"' Dekkers said in a 2005 interview with the Herald-Tribune. 'I am without a job right now. I have no income anymore. My life was destroyed.'

Dekkers once reported a net worth of $12 million before his business was shuttered in the aftermath of the attacks, which he also attributes to destroying his 20-year marriage. He wrote a book about his ordeal titled 'Guilt by Association.'

Julia Hall, who works as a dispatcher at one of the Houston-area flight schools Dekkers visited, told the Houston Chronicle that she 'never liked him.'

'Within a very short amount of time, he told me who he was,' she told the newspaper. 'Do you want the guy who trained the 911 terrorists in your presence?'