Homeland security officials had considered raising the terror threat level from yellow to orange — high. But for now, they are issuing an advisory to state officials and planned to hold conference calls tonight with homeland security coordinators from each state.
Warnings in New York and Abroad (ABC News tonight)
The informant said that at least three other al-Qaida terrorists in addition to El Shukrijumah were seen in Hamilton in 2002. They include Anas al-Liby, one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists, Jaber A. Elbaneh and Amer El-Maati. Al-Liby has been linked by U.S. authorities to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. El Shukrijumah and El-Maati are being sought for questioning by the FBI in connection with terrorist threats against the United States, according to the bureau's counterterrorism website. Elbaneh is wanted by the FBI as part of a federal criminal complaint made public in May on charges of providing support to al-Qaida as part of a terrorist cell near Buffalo, N.Y.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/buffalo_arrests020917.html Waiting for a ‘Watermelon’
FBI Says Coded Messages
Led to Buffalo Terror Sweep
B U F F A L O, N.Y., Sept. 17
— The FBI monitored the alleged members of a terror cell in suburban Buffalo, N.Y., since before Sept. 11, 2001, but it was a flurry of recent coded messages — including one that referred to the delivery of a "watermelon" — that spurred authorities to swoop in.
Law enforcement officials say they are not sure exactly what "watermelon" referred to, but they think it may have been a code word for some kind of terrorist activity. The arrests of the six men on Friday, Saturday and Sunday came as agents investigated reports of a possible "dirty bomb" being moved across the border from Canada, sources said.