The Oregon suspects

Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal, 25, Beaverton, Ore.

Bilal, a U.S. citizen, attended the Bilal Masjid mosque. He is fluent in Arabic and taught it to children at the mosque. He joked with them and kept them interested in learning, said the mosque's director, Shahriar Ahmed.

In discussing politics, Bilal presented "the usual diatribe you hear all the time," Ahmed said. "Policies about Palestine, policies about this or that."

Bilal managed a Skewers Restaurant. He moved into the Scottsdale Park Apartments in 2000, and later was joined by a woman, Correne, whom he identified as his wife, said Anne Branch, a manager of the 40-unit complex.

They moved from a first- to a second-floor apartment because Bilal was worried that others might glimpse his wife through the window blinds with her head uncovered, Branch said. Correne Bilal applied hazy contact paper to windows to obscure outsiders from looking in.

"(Bilal) was a nice person," Branch said. He told her he was from a family of 15 siblings. His father, who stayed with the couple in summer 2001, dressed in long white robes and had a long beard.

Ahmed and Correne Bilal moved out, owing $333.50 in rent. The American Muslim Foundation in Beaverton later paid the debt, Branch said. Later Correne called her and said that Ahmed had gone overseas and they had broken up, the manager said.

Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, 22, Portland

Brother of Ahmed, Bilal was arrested yesterday by the FBI at his sister's apartment in Dearborn, Mich. He has lived in North Carolina, Beaverton, Ore., and, for the past several years, Portland. He and his brother told a potential witness to "lie to law enforcement" about the source of money they used in their alleged attempts to travel to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban, the indictment said.

According to information released in court yesterday, Bilal has spent 16 of his 22 years outside the United States. Most of his family — his parents and more than a dozen siblings — lives in Saudi Arabia.

Jeffrey Leon Battle, 32, Portland

Battle enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army Reserve in September 1999 and completed basic training in February 2000. He had been assigned to the 671st Engineer Company in Portland, but, according to military records, never showed up at his reserve unit for training or weekend drills. He was administratively discharged in January.

He and his wife, October Lewis, filed for divorce in February 2000. Public records list Battle as sharing a Portland address with Lewis in recent years. He also showed up at addresses in Vallejo, Calif., and Houston.

October Martinique Lewis, 25, Portland

Lewis divorced Battle months before she allegedly wired money to him in Hong Kong as part of his efforts to enter Afghanistan.

Public records list Lewis as sharing at least one Portland address with Battle in recent years. According to a neighbor, Matt Hawkey, they still lived together with their young son.

Lewis was also known as "Khadijah."

Habis Abdulla Al Saoub, 36

Also known as Abu Tarek, he was born in Jordan and later became a legal U.S. permanent resident. He was not been arrested with the others, is believed to be overseas, and is still being sought.

Patrice Lumumba Ford, 31, Portland

Named after the African resistance leader, Ford has three brothers and a sister, none of them Muslims, according to his family. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, and later Portland State University. His family said he also pursued graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Ford converted to Islam about six years ago, said his brother, James Britt. He is fluent in Chinese and lived there for one year, Britt said.

In 1998 and 1999, Ford worked as an intern for Portland Mayor Vera Katz. Last year, he contacted the mayor's office, upsetting staffers. They sent a memo about his contacts with City Hall to the police "for evaluation."

He worked for Airborne Express and until yesterday sold cellphone accessories, said Britt, a lawyer in Eugene. Ford drove a tan van, which was searched yesterday by authorities, two neighbors said.

Ford lives with a woman from China and their 15-month-old son in a two-bedroom, $600-a-month apartment, according to neighbors in the complex and his brother.

She moved items out of the apartment yesterday with help from Ford's mother, a neighbor said.

"He was a really quiet person who hardly said anything," said Nancy Thornock, a neighbor. "He avoided eye contact and gave me the willies. They were very secretive."

She said she once saw him six months ago working as a vendor at Portland Community College. "He was selling tie-dye shirts, candles, posters and little purses."

His brother said: "He's a good man. The allegations are absurd and outrageous."