FBI Interested in Large Prepaid Cell Phone Purchases

WTRF-TV ^ | 8/3/2006 | Sarah Kapis

[Ready2go]

FBI Interested in Large Prepaid Cell Phone Purchases Posted 8/3/2006 06:06 PM

Store clerks in Grafton say people have been coming into their stores and buying several phones at a time. Story by Sarah Kapis Email | Bio

Folks at the Dollar General in Grafton say in the past few days, several men have come into the store attempting to buy large numbers of prepaid phones. However, store policy only allows a customer to buy two phones at a time, in fact, they are locked away from the general public.

The clerks say after they were in the Dollar General, the men went to the Grafton Walmart to try to purchase more of the phones.

Grafton police found one man during a traffic stop. They say he had hundreds of prepaid phones in his car.

There is no word on what the men planned to do with the phones or why they bought so many, but the incident was later turned over to the FBI for an investigation.

The owner of Country Roads Communications says the allure of the prepaid phones is the freedom that come with them. However, the FBI is not ready to say that the phones are being used for illegal or criminal purposes.

"Prepaids are hard to track, so they're used alot for illegal operations," said Vince Cafazza.

"We are aware that there are a number of purchases throughout the state. Large purchases of trac phones. We are interested in the purchases because they are unusual," said Dan Caldwell, FBI special agent. "We also understand that a number of the larger stores in the area are aware of the purchases. We are not aware of any criminal activity associated with the purchases at this point."

Caldwell says if you notice someone trying to buy large quantities of these type of phones, you can contact your local police or the FBI.

[Toby06]

There are no clues in the parts I read. Never heard of the place, either.

[Old Student]

"A cell phone is not inherently dangerous, and the purchase of them in quantity is not illegal.

Yet..."

Very little is inherently dangerous. Radioactives and poisons come to mind. However, even a newspaper can be a lethal weapon, in the right (or wrong) hands. Just look at the NY Times. In Iraq, the jihadis are using cellphones as triggers for IED's and suicide bombs, so perhaps a little caution is in order.

I would not need a hundred prepaid cell phones, personally. I'll admit that you might. I hope you'll admit that I might have reason to be concerned about just exactly your need is, though? If you're handing them out to a bunch of girl scouts, or all the single ladies in your neighborhood, I've probably nothing to worry about, but...

[Tokra]

I have to ask...any mention, in the local WVA news of the ethnicity of the strangers?

I would think that is a very important question.

[r9etb]

The price WalMart sells those things for, with time included, is so cheap that an enterprising big city guy can make a good buck standing on a corner hawking them with a keystone. I see commerce first, before I see conspiracy!

Grafton, WV (pop. 5,489), way in the middle of dog-bottom nowhere, is an obvious spot for the "big city guy" to stock up on his supplies.

[hophead]

"FYI, Grafton is a small town in north central WV. The kind of place where a "stranger" sticks out like a sore thumb. Not the kind of place where you won't be noticed trying to pull stunts like this. ;)"

I spent a couple weeks there back in 1976 with a friend who was raised there. What a nice place, nice people. There was a lake called Tygart Lake. Very nice. Population is about 5500 people.

[Mrs. Ranger]

"I would hazard to guess that a person with an accent would be memorable in that area."

Not much of a hazard if you *know* about "small towns". :)


"Please keep us posted on the local news, Mrs. R."

Alas, I'm stuck in PA these days, but I was born and raised nearby. Spent many a fun day at Tygart Lake. :) I'll call my mother. ;)

[Fitzcarraldo]

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/9639284/detail.html

Foreigner Found With Prepaids, Cash In Murrysville Is Held By Feds

POSTED: 11:05 am EDT August 7, 2006
UPDATED: 2:39 pm EDT August 7, 2006

GREENSBURG, Pa. -- A man from the Republic of Georgia is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison after he and another man from that country were found with 15 prepaid cell phones and $4,200 in cash, police said.

The Tribune-Review reported that Malkhaz Zakutashvili, 53, was held through the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Murrysville police said the federal agency told police not to hold the second man, Zurabi Maisuradze, 25.

Police said the men were questioned just before 8 p.m. Saturday because their van, which did not have a permanent registration plate, was stopped in a lane of traffic in the Franklin Plaza parking lot.

The men said they were immigrants, but each displayed Michigan driver's licenses, police said.

Zakutashvili told police he was in the country illegally, Tappe said. Maisuradze claimed to have a visa, but he said he had forgotten to bring it with him.

The prepaid cell phones, which the men had recently purchased in Monroeville and Murrysville, were found inside the van. Also in the van were a laptop computer and global-positioning software.

A bomb-sniffing dog found nothing suspicious in the van, which had no seats or wall paneling inside, police said.

The men said they were on the way to Philadelphia and had visited a local drug store to buy batteries, police said.

[Toby06]

The best time to be in Syracuse is Columbus Day weekend.

[Tokra]

A hundred ham hocks in the back of your car is kind of odd too, but nobody's GD business.

The day ham hocks can be used to detonate IEDs or the day ham hocks can be used to contact Al Qaeda - then it would be somebody's GD business.

[FreedomCalls]

If it's just Capitalism then they have nothing to fear, correct?

And if you go buy a thousand-round tin of 7.62x39 and you are only going to use it at the range over the next year, you should also have nothing to fear when the ATF comes knocking on your door to look around "just to be sure" right?

[MineralMan]

"A hundred ham hocks in the back of your car is kind of odd too, but nobody's GD business. I am not siding with terrorists, but this is America, land of the free, and all that. I want the damn government to leave me the hell alone."

Yeah, I want the government to leave me alone, too. But, I'm not buying 100 prepaid cell phones, either. Given their common use in criminal activity, that's of interest to law enforcement.

I'm sure you use a prepaid cell phone. Many people do. I can't imagine what use you'd have for 100 of them, though, unless you're part of a large drug distribution scheme, organized crime, or a terrorist.

If you bought them in my store, I'd report the sale, too. It's suspicious. These days, suspicions like that deserve reporting. It's too bad if it bothers you.

[Tokra]

How many unaccounted-for Mexicans are there in the US?

How many Mexicans have slammed jets into American buildings? How many Mexicans have strapped on bomb vests and blown up pizza parlors or busses full of school kids?

[r9etb]

But with all the nanny-staters out there (even in Conservative circles), somone has to sit on the other side of the fence on occasion.

Fine -- but you seem to be avoiding the likelihood that these nice men were not wholesome. You're intelligent enough to understand that, in these days where we know terrorists are active, and where we know that secure communications are at a premium for them, a failure to investigate this sort of suspicious activity would be dereliction of duty on the part of the FBI and others.

[UCANSEE2]

"I'm hearing (reading) a lot of the same arguments the anti-gunners use to justify the criminalization of firearms possession."

Did you miss the information about the quantity of cell phones they were trying to purchase, and had in their car?

Now, if you go into WALMART and ask to purchase 50 shotguns, do you think they should just keep quiet and sell them to you??????

[PennsylvaniaMom]

LOL...I do know about small towns, and thats why I am trying to read between the lines of the news story.

I can commiserate...I too am 'stuck in PA these days.'

[RFC_Gal]

Some specific models of prepaid cell phones are very easy to reprogram so they will work with other cell providers.

Such phones, if resold, can enable one to make a large profit.

Or so I have been told.

[justche]

What 11 guys are missing?

[sam_paine]

FBI Interested in Large Prepaid Cell Phone Purchases

This is stupid. Large cell phones are hard to conceal, so they aren't very good for terror purposes.

[Toby06]

Do you own a cell phone? By your logic, you are a potential terrorist. Yeah, go on ahead and restrict everything right on down to charcoal and lighter fluid for my smoked ham hocks, because I know how to use that stuff to make a friggin bomb.

Geez, keep on eroding civil liberties. You people sicken me. It's a friggin cell phone! There are BILLIONS of them in the world!

I can't believe you stalinist freaks consider yourselves conservative enough to be freepers!

[jordan8]

A classic example of the conflict between valuing freedom and valuing diversity/mutliculturalism.