Student found with pilot radio was in U.S. on government-funded program, agency says

NEW YORK - An Egyptian student charged with lying about an aviation radio found in his hotel room near the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 was in the United States as part of a government-funded program. <br> <br> Abdallah Higazy was in the United States on a student visa through a program arranged by the U.S. Agency for International Development, agency spokeswoman Susan Phalen said Monday. The program trains Egyptian students in business, health, English and education, often by placing them at American universities. <br> <br> Higazy, 30, was enrolled in Polytechnic University in Brooklyn as a graduate student in computer engineering, according to the university. <br> <br> Higazy allegedly told the FBI to know nothing of the radio found in a room safe, but later admitted it was his. Prosecutors said he acknowledged knowing how to operate the radio, which pilots use to communicate with other planes and air traffic controllers, but gave conflicting accounts of how he got it. <br> <br> Higazy, the son of an Egyptian diplomat and a former serviceman in the Egyptian Air Corps, was ordered held without bail Friday. Magistrate Judge Frank Maas noted that the student aid group had placed Higazy at the Millennium Hilton Hotel until he could find housing. <br> <br> &#34;This may not be ultimately a terrorism case,&#34; Maas said at Friday&#39;s hearing. <br> <br> Phalen said USAID had contracted with the Institute of International Education in New York to administer the program locally. She said it was not immediately clear how Higazy was placed in the hotel or who paid for it. Officials at the Institute of International Education referred inquiries to USAID. <br> <br> Higazy had checked into the hotel on Aug. 27, and was scheduled to check out Sept. 25. The room, on the 51st floor, had a view of the trade center. <br> <br>

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