Boston terror threat probed

Federal and state authorities are investigating a nuclear terrorist threat against Boston after a man calling from Mexico told California police that he smuggled two Iraqis and four Chinese over the border, the Boston Herald has learned.

``They got a call from across the border in Mexico to the California Highway Patrol and he said he brought two Iraqis and four Chineses (individuals)across the border and according to him, they stated soon to follow behind them would be some sort of material,'' said a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.

``He refers to some sort of nuclear material that will follow them through New York up into Boston.''

According to the source, the caller has not identified himself and did not show up for a meeting with federal investigators in California but he did leave pictures of four Chinese men and some names at a ``drop'' site at the Mexico-California border.

``They were dropped by the source at a location. He literally threw them over a fence from Mexico to the U.S. side,'' said the source. ``There are pictures of the four Chinese and some names but just how accurate they are remains a question''

Massachusetts law enforcement officials were notified of the threat at 5:30 a.m. today through the FBI and Boston Police Joint Terrorist Task Force.

The threat was serious enough that Mayor Menino ordered the Fire Commissioner and the state's Homeland Security Chief into his office at City Hall, where they met with officials from the CIA, FBI, and Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a high-ranking city official told the Herald.

``They are desperately trying to piece it together,'' said the offial, who added that if the threat is real it is ``very scary.''

A company that trains explosive-sniffing dogs said it was alerted that the canines would be searching for a ``dirty bomb,'' a New York City law enforcement official said yesterday.

The Massachusetts investigator said much of the man's information sounds far-fetched and investigators have some doubts about the caller's validity because he has not identified himself.

``A lot of it doesn't make sense and some of it does,'' said the source. ``It's totally uncorroborated. This all began several days ago as a series of phone calls and they don't know who the caller is. There are some parts of it that just don't make sense and other little pieces of it that fall into place. The information is these people that came into the country are going to New eYork into Boston and the (nuclear) material will follow them.''

The source said there is speculation the caller may have been ripped off by illegal immigrants he helped over the border and is now trying to exact revenge.

``It's very weird. Even if (the Iraqis and Chinese) were going to do something why would they be blabbing to the yahoo smuggling them across the border? You have to wonder if they screwd him on a deal but you have to treat it seriously and the issue is how do you put it out to the public and not get everybody (in a panic)?''

The source said the information will soon ``come out over police channels and BOLOs (be on the lookout).''

The source added the FBI office in San Diego is leading the investigation. ``The FBI in San Diego is the originating office so they are driving the investigation. The FBI in Boston is in a tough position because they are waiting for information''

FBI Alerts Boston Law Enforcement About Four Suspects

BOSTON -- The FBI notified Boston area law enforcement Wednesday to be on the lookout for four Chinese nationals described as possible terror suspects who may be headed to the area.

Federal law enforcement officials in Boston said they had received a tip earlier in the day about an unspecified threat against Boston, and released photographs of the two men and two women they were seeking.

In a joint statement issued by Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Kenneth Kaiser, special agent in charge of the Boston FBI office, they were identified as: Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen, Guozhi Lin.

Authorities said none of the names had been on previous watch lists of terror suspects, and their whereabouts aren't immediately known.

The investigation stirred a frenzy of media reports and prompted Gov. Mitt Romney, who had gone to Washington to attend Thursday's presidential inauguration, to decide to return to Massachusetts later Wednesday.

Romney told reporters in Washington that he planned to be on a 9 p.m. flight back to Boston, and cautioned that the threats were unsubstantiated and uncorroborated.

"We have had threats in the past. We take them seriously, even when they're not corroborated," he said.

Romney said that the state's threat level would not be raised, but more people would be on duty in the state's emergency management bunker in Framingham, about 20 miles west of Boston.

"To assure the people of Boston and Massachusetts that it is safe to be at home, I am going to be sleeping in my bed in Massachusetts tonight and I feel perfectly safe doing so," Romney said. "In the very remote circumstance that my attention is needed, I will be able to respond on an immediate basis."

A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter remains under investigation, told The Associated Press that the FBI's joint terrorism task force has not yet corroborated a tip that the suspects entered the United States through Mexico in recent days, possibly bound for Boston.

The official stressed the tip is one of many from around the country that routinely are forwarded to local task forces for further investigation. No credible, specific terror threat has been identified in connection with the tip about suspects possibly entering the country from Mexico.

Brian Roehrkasse, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency was working with the FBI and "our partners in the intelligence community to analyze and assess recently received and uncorroborated information concerning a potential threat to Boston. This information has not been corroborated and was received from an unknown source of unknown credibility."

Roehrkasse said he was not aware of any stepped-up federal security measures in Boston, such as extra patrols or measures taken at Logan International.

FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said the terror alert had not been raised for Boston.

"Basically, what you have here is information that we often get," she said. "It's uncorroborated at this time."

"It's been passed on to our law enforcement partners and we're working it aggressively," she said.

Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said representatives from six or seven state agencies were on duty at the state emergency bunker in Framingham -- far fewer than the 30 or 40 that would be present during a full-blown emergency activation.

"We're just really at this point in a monitoring mode," Judge said. "We'll stay active through the night tonight, until this thing resolves itself." (AP)

Protectionists are manipulating paranoids and hysterics with the idea that there is a threat from the Mexican border.

Can I correct your sentence? Some protectionists are attempting to manipulate people they belive to be paranoid and hysterical over the idea that there is a threat from the Mexican border.

This does not mean that a large segment of the population that is in favor of controlling the border is hysterical or paranoid over the issue.

There is a big difference. How people try to manipulate an issue and is not the reality of those they are trying to manipulate (should we take a show of hands in this thread to see how many are hysterical, paranoid?). We are on FR. Certainly the people here are used to digesting news beyond a hysterical and parnoid view.

How about we leave the emotion out of it and just stick to objective, well reasoned arguements of why an unsecure border is or is not a security issue. Frankly, your reverting back to the same accusations - that is how I take them unless you accept my rewrite - is getting tiring.

I'm more than happy to continue discussing this with you.

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