Apparently the cell phone purchases have been going on all over the place. Here is a pretty good recent article I found:
"In America, various retailers have contacted police when noting large quantities of cell phones bought at one sweep by one gent or several gents with sloped shoulders in a subtle "sabotage mode."
"When police arrived, the gents slinked away from the cell phone section or slid under the counter what they had just purchased, then made like "usual customer."
"Target and Wal-Mart have experienced this kind of happy purchaser and informed the authorities, concluding the set-up just might be doing in a building and innocent mortals nearby."
----snip----
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_11291.shtml
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/5216970/detail.html?rss=dfw&psp=news
FBI Investigates Cell Phone Purchase
POSTED: 4:26 pm CST October 31, 2005
UPDATED: 4:59 pm CST October 31, 2005
DALLAS -- A Target store employee alerted Dallas police to a recent extraordinary cellular telephone equipment purchase. A man bought $60,000 worth of hard-to-trace prepaid cell phones.
The size of the purchase raised suspicions among police investigators, who turned over the case to the FBI.
"Those notifications are taken seriously," former FBI agent Danny Defenbaugh said. "Anytime a business or private citizen sees that type of activity, they need to go the extra step and notify law enforcement."
The large purchase caused investigators to look toward possible homeland security threats. On two occasions during October, a man of Middle Eastern descent bought $30,000 worth of prepaid cell phones. Security experts told NBC 5 that the FBI would work to identify the man and determine why he would buy the hard-to-trace phones.
Officials with the FBI and Target declined to comment on the case other than to say they were pleased that the clerk reported the purchase.