Romanian Authorities Have a Fourth Explanation to How Alleged Top Terrorist Fled the Country

Romanian authorities have a new version - the fourth - on how suspected terrorist Omar Hayssam managed to get over the border.

This time the prosecutors investigating organized crime and terrorism said Hayssam allegedly fled on June 30 on board of Iman-T ship, sailing under a north-Korean flag and owned by a Syrian citizen.

The ship was arrested and cannot leave Constanta port since August 6, while the ship owner was placed under investigation for allegedly helping Hayssam to disappear.

The General Prosecutor Office in a press-release Friday said it had hints that Hayssam might have exited Romania on board of Iman-T, to go to native Syria.

After leaving Romanian shores on June 30, the ship sailed first to Alexandria, Egypt, and then to Tartous, Syria.

The ship transports timber between the ports of Constanta and Alexandria and is owned by Mediterranean Line Inc. in Delaware SUA, and managed by Tartousi Shipping Company in Constanta.

The Syrian citizen Mustafa Tartousi is this company’s representative which prosecutors indicted for helping a terrorist suspects.

Tartousi denied the charges saying his ship was meticulously checked out before leaving harbor; hence no stowaway could have traveled on it.

Sources close to the prosecuting office said Hayssam might have hidden under the identity of a crew member, but border police dismissed that possibility.

Not only the ship, but also the crew was unable to leave Constanta port since docking on August 2. The crew members - made of Syrian and Egyptian citizens, plus two Romanians - were already questioned by the police and are not allowed to communicate with the outside world, except with authorities.

Hayssam’s wife Adela denies the new version of the authorities may be true, saying she spent with her husband and their kids at their home in Snagov the days of June 30 and July 1.

"People who saw us together may testify to that," said Adela. "Last time I saw my husband was on 4 or 5 July, when he left home telling me he was checking into a sanatorium. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. I haven’t head from him since. I have no idea when he left Romania, but for sure he did not do it on June 30. I do not now Tartousi and have no idea if my husband knew him either," Adela added.

This is the fourth version authorities served the media to explain how the top-most suspected terrorist in Romania was able to vanish.

First version was that he left Romania on board of a ship transporting cattle to Syria; second version belonged to the minister of interior Vasile Blaga, who said Hayssam might have used a diplomatic car to avoid the border control; and a third version was that Romanian intelligence services helped him get out of the country with a fake ID, using Romania’s airports.