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WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (AFP) - Anger and frustration led the Washington area sniper to call two priests in Virginia and Washington states, giving them a vital clue that police used to crack his three-week killing spree, The New York Times said Friday.

John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, a Jamaican national, were arrested Thursday at a highway rest stop north of Washington on unrelated charges. The gun found in their car was matched by police to 11 of the sniper's 13 victims.

On October 17, the Montgomery County, Maryland police received a call by a man who apparently grew angry at the dispatcher's doubts about who was calling.

"I am God!" he shouted according to law enforcement officials quoted by the daily.

"Don't you know who you're dealing with? Just check out the murder-robbery in Montgomery if you don't believe me!," the caller added.

Police at the time believed the caller was referring to Montgomery County, Maryland, where several of the sniper's murders took place.

The following day, the man made at least two phone calls to priests in Ashland, Virginia -- where the sniper's 9th murder victim was shot Sunday night -- and in Bellingham, Washington -- where Muhammad and Malvo first met, to enlist messengers to establish his credibility with police, the daily said.

The priest in Ashland was told to tell investigators to check for a crime in Montgomery, this time specifying he meant the city in Alabama.

Police, baffled by the criminal's reasons for giving up this tip, contacted police in Montgomery, Alabama, who traced an unidentified fingerprint found on a gun magazine from a murder and attempted robbery at a liquor store September 21 to Malvo's fingerprints on file with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Malvo, the daily said, had several scrapes with immigration officials while living in Bellingham, and had his fingerprints on file.

Investigators later found out that Malvo and Gulf War veteran Muhammad were friends.

By Tuesday, law enforcement officials said, investigators traced Muhammad to a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice registered in his name in New Jersey.

The owner of the Sure Shot Auto dealership in Trenton, New Jersey, told police he sold the Caprice, which was an undercover police car, to Muhammad and another man, Nathaniel Osborne, for 250 dollars in August 2001.

Maryland police late Wednesday gave Muhammad's and Malvo's identities and the car's descriptions to the media. Within an hour, the car was spotted by a truck driver near Frederick, Maryland, and police swooped in to capture the pair.

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