Posted on 08/16/2006 10:44:31 PM PDT by SandRat
Arizona's Counter-Terrorism Information Center has advised Arizona's law enforcement officials that there is a possible increase in suspicious purchases of prepaid cell phones.
Tucson Police have been searching for two men, of Middle Eastern descent for allegedly trying to buy around 50 disposable cell phones at a local Sam's Club.
Those men are wanted for questioning, but not criminal charges.
The Counter-Terrorism center is also monitoring the case.
Tuesday, two new claims.
An inside source says at a Tucson Family Dollar store, two men have also been trying to buy cell phones from that chain.
And there's news from Huachuca City that police detained two Middle Eastern men from California for trying to buy large quantities of disposable cell phones.
Experts say that those disposable phones can't be traced and that they can be used to detonate a bomb.
Those details are exclusive to News 4 and our Lupita Murillo.
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An anonymous tip to Huachuca City police on April 21st...
Sgt. Jennifer Fuller, the dispatcher who took the call, says, "There were two Middle Eastern gentlemen buying a large amount of phones in the general area and they were headed our way."
Huachuca City police swung into action. They set up surveillance at the Dollar General and the Family Dollar stores.
They soon spottd the black Ford Explorer with a California license plate, the vehicle the caller told police about.
Three people -- a woman, and two men with Middle Eastern names -- were detained, questioned, and later released by federal agents.
Sgt. Fuller says "The ICE agents checked with their supervisors and, because nothing illegal was going on, the two men were allowed to leave."
Police found in the vehicle, a large number of prepaid cell phones.
Sgt. Fuller says, "They had purchased about 300 phones in the surrounding areas. Later discovered 1000 in their vehicle."
"They had taken phones out of the containers, out of the packages. They didn't take chargers, didn't take instructions how to activate the phone, they just left everything else behind."
So while purchasing 1000 phones may not be illegal, Huachuca City police say, "It's just enough to make you think it's not right."
As we mentioned, there's a new report of big cell phone purchases in Tucson Family Dollar stores as well.
A source tells News 4 that on Saturday, 2 men came in to try to buy as many cell phones as they could.
The source says this has been happening for the last two months.
Family Dollar released a statement to News 4, saying that it sells the disposable phones without a contract for customer convenience, but says, "While the program has been very well received by our customers, we do limit (the) purchase to two per customer to curtail opportunities for re-sale in other markets."
AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ME men and cellphones!
Anyone want to start tallying these things up?
Not really.
It would be a bit depressing, and make thinking folks start wondering what is really going to be tried in five days.
A few more and the number of cellphones will exceed the National Debt.
How many targets are their going to be for Aug 22?
Rather different targets, I should expect, though.
TOGOIADO, right? As our Marines noted during WW II.
If there are major attacks by Muslims the first thing the government will do is send cops/troops to protect Mosques, like in the UK
Somebody explain this to me. The arrested men say that they were buying the cellphones for resale. How could that work? It makes no sense. Why would someone buy a cellphone at a mark-up price from one of these guys, when you can easily just walk in to your local Walmart and buy one yourself at a lower price? Who are they claiming to market to?
And why are they taking the phones apart if they're going to re-sell them? One report said they were putting the body of the phone in one box, the battery in another.
I am truly trying to understand how anybody can buy that story. Are authorities perhaps just letting them go so they can watch them?
No sign of terrorism. Move along. /s
Yeah... don't look at that man behind the curtain Dorothy!
I'm thinking that if the attack involves 100-500 successful cellphone bombs, the first thing the gov will do is turn off all cell towers. Second, protect mosques and muslims. Third, institute a huge costly office of cell phone protection to screen all users of cell phones equally.
Here's another one...when are they going to wise up? I don't care if they ARE "buying them for resale" (which is a hokey crock of bs), get them for tax evasion, or something...just GET them. This is really getting ridiculous.
Ya think???
Every day for the last week or so, there has been one or two more of these in the news. Can't they take a hint? For every 2 they notice, there are probably 5 that they don't. I wonder if they let them keep the phones after they "question them and let them go"?? This is insane.
They buy them at a subsidized price, because Tracfone expects to make money selling you additional minutes. Once purchased you can unlock them to work on any network if you know how. Then you can use them on any GSM network. A comparable phone would cost over $150 if bought without the subsidy. They unlock them. Like the auto repairman says: it's 20¢ for the part, $80 for knowing which part to replace. The markup is for the unlock. The battery can be sold separately for an additional mark-up.
Any (American) government that wants NOT to get its butt tossed out at the next election won't even consider sending troops to protect mosques (a law enforcement function, thus prohibited by Posse Comitatus) after another significant outrage by the islamist subhumans. Granted, the Feds might well consider coercing state/local gov'ts in sundry ways to send troopers, police, and whatnot to do this task, with the obvious purpose of dodging responsibility for public blame while still, notionally, ''protecting'' public ''safety''.
Please note CAREFULLY that this sentiment neither says nor implies that every follower of islam -- which cult name I refuse to capitalise, deliberately, despite common (mis)usage -- is subhuman.
Holy cow!
bttt
Thanks. So, in other words, the Tracfone maker is assuming that most of us are too ignorant to reconfigure the phone for use beyond the minutes already loaded on it. That actually makes the re-sale scheme sound plausible.
I still hope our guys are tailing them from the minute they leave the jailhouse.
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