PORT ANGELES — The two men who tackled would-be terrorist Ahmed Ressam took in stride news that he was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in prison by a federal judge.
But that’s not to say the Port Angeles residents have forgotten about the strange events that unfolded Dec. 14, 1999, at the MV Coho ferry landing that led to Ressam’s conviction and sentencing.
That evening, U.S. Customs inspectors Mike Chapman, who is now a Clallam County commissioner, and Mark Johnson chased Ressam through the streets of downtown Port Angeles after he bolted from the port of entry lane as soon as inspectors asked him to exit his rented car.
Ressam had arrived on the MV Coho shortly before 6 p.m. on that chilly, holiday season day and was attempting to transport bomb-making materials, including two jugs of nitroglycerin-like substance, to Los Angeles International Airport to detonate there around the millennium celebrations.
Knew of explosives
“My most vivid remembrance of [Ressam] is that after we had him apprehended and sitting in the police car, he never alerted us while we were testing the materials in his car,” Chapman said Wednesday.
“He knew we were handling explosives and that our lives were in danger.
“That’s the kind of cold and calculating individual he is.”
Given his own experience as well as Ressam’s terrorist objectives, which were later discovered while he was in federal custody, Chapman was pleased with the 22-year sentence handed down by a federal judge in Seattle.
“I think it’s a fair sentence,” Chapman said.
“The bottom line is we’re very grateful that we were able to apprehend him.”