Posted on 08/11/2006 3:01:13 PM PDT by madison10
Has any one made a map, or done any tracking, of cities/towns the cell phones are being purchased? or of where the suspects are being picked up?
Thanks.
That's silly. They are a good thing for kids and those without adequate credit. Why not just racial profile and only inconvenience the diaperheads?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1711848/posts?page=1107#1107
---
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2006/10/the_interaction.html
"The Interaction of Phone Shops and Terror Cells in Germany"
We just received a link to one man's fascinating story of struggle with radical Islam and endless lawsuits in Germany. The following paragraph, written by Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, is a real eye-opener:
"In February 2006 I published in the magazine "Park Avenue" a long report on the interaction of phone shops and terror cells in Germany. The Federal Office of Criminal Investigation had always responded to my inquiries that there was no such connection while the evidence was on hand at German security authorities. (...) It needed the suitcase bombings, fortunately prevented by chance, until the Federal Criminal Police Office was aware of the cooperation of "call-shops" and terror cells. Today we know that the Lebanese terrorists built their net via the "call-shop" scene in Hamburg and Kiel. In Madrid and London the security authorities had got to such findings as well - only after the attacks."
Read the entire story.
October 15, 2006 at 04:28 PM
add Lisbon, Ct to your list. 50 bought at super Walmart about 6 weeks ago.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1699333/posts
Bulk purchases, resale of cell phones upset makers
AP via San Diego U/T ^ | 09/11/06 | Andrew Welsh-Huggins
Posted on 09/11/2006 7:24:23 AM PDT by RS
COLUMBUS, Ohio – People moving state to state, armed with cash and tricks to avoid scrutiny, are buying cheap prepaid mobile phones by the thousands with plans to sell them in Latin America and Hong Kong.
Cell phone companies say the practice is costing them millions of dollars, and some have hired private investigators to document what they say is illegal tampering with their phones.
~
After receiving the phones from the buyers, often in bulk shipments, the middlemen deactivate a software lock on the devices so they can be used on other cellular services. The phones are then repackaged and shipped to their next destination, records show.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
(Note: Read More at the posted message.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1761584/posts?page=721#721
"Man Questioned -- Again -- For Pre-paid Cell Phones (WestVirginia)"
Posted Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Thanks to Velveeta for this post:
QUOTE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1761584/posts?page=1153#1153
$17,500 in cell phones stolen from Nanuet Mall (NY)
http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070119/NEWS03/701190371/1019/SPECIAL02
1,153 posted on 01/19/2007 5:10:01 PM PST by Velveeta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1151 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
Thanks to Rushmore Rocks and Slow Boat 407 for the ping to this thread:
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777562/posts
Middle-Eastern men buying phones in Jackson, MS
Vanity | 2/1/07 | struggle
Posted on 02/01/2007 1:06:07 PM PST by struggle
One of the students mentioned to her friend that there were bunches of Middle-Eastern guys buying phones in the Radio Shack at Metrocenter, Jackson, MS.
About 13 men or so bought the tracphones and her clerk friend also said that many of them came in buying phones in the afternoon as well.
I contacted the FBI in Jackson already.
Cindy, you are quick. I was just about to ping you to that thread.
This is no laughing matter.
I understand.
I have that thread under "phone" in my toolbar on my computer.
You should also put it under "detonators". ;)
That is an unfortunate possibility.
But not a possibility on my computer (lest any lurker misunderstands).
Thanks to Oorang for this post which includes in part a snippet about cell phones.
The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1793738/posts?page=117#117
MI5 trains supermarket checkout staff
04 March 2007
Supermarket checkout staff are being trained by the security services in how to detect potential terrorists. MI5 has been secretly advising food retailers, including Asda and Tesco, on how to identify extremist shoppers. Measures include increasing CCTV in underground carparks to prevent bomb attacks and being alert to mass purchases of mobile phones, which can be used as bomb detonators. The awareness training for staff also covers bulk sales of toiletries which could be used as the basic ingredient in explosives.
The security services and ministers are worried supermarkets are an attractive target for terrorists because of the potential for mass casualties. One terrorism expert said: "Terrorists know if they frighten people from everyday activities they are 'winning the war'. What better than a busy supermarket which is hard to defend and with lots of cars in a car park?"
A Tesco spokesman said: "We have strict procedures and contingency plans in place and we remain in close contact with the security services at all levels." Asda also confirmed it had "contingency plans" to cover a "number of potential crises".
The Asda chain is owned by the US retail giant Wal-Mart. Last year, three Palestinian-Americans from Texas were arrested in a Wal-Mart outlet in Michigan after staff spotted them bulk-buying mobile phones. The suspects claimed to be buying the 80 handsets to resell them for a profit, but police held them on suspicion they were planning to use the phones as detonators. Their van contained 1,000 phones and pictures of a bridge, police said. The men are awaiting trial.
The FBI has already thwarted a terrorist plot in the US which was aimed at hospitals and supermarkets. Last April, a 23-year-old man was convicted of supporting terror after plotting a jihad against supermarkets and hospitals in the US. Hamid Hayat, who faces a possible sentence of 38 years, admitted he had attended a terror training camp in the Balakot area of Pakistan. His plea for a new trial was rejected last month.
The FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security sent out joint bulletins in February and March to police departments nationwide warning about the bulk purchase of phones for personal profit or financing terrorism. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, warned in the wake of the bombing of the Twin Towers that supermarkets were an attractive target for al-Qa'ida, which could use them to cause mass casualties through bombings or poison plots.
MPs also warned in a report in 2003 that more needed to be done to protect the food industry after Tesco revealed there was a "real and current threat" of terrorists contaminating food supplies.
Special Branch officers were used during the IRA bombing campaigns on the British mainland to give advice to companies, including the food industry, on the threat they faced. But security sources said that the problem is now much more serious, because modern extremists are more random in their approach, unlike the IRA which focused on very specific targets. Whitehall sources confirmed that many businesses including "those in the food industry" have been given training and advice, although they refused to give specific details.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2326211.ece
117 posted on 03/03/2007 6:45:27 PM PST by Oorang (Tyranny thrives best where government need not fear the wrath of an armed people - Alex Kozinski)
Note: The following Google Translation (of the article below) is an automatic text translation and is a quote:
Original text: Automatically translated text:
Million and average one of cellular robs every year in Colombia The denunciation was done east Friday by the president of the Association of the Cellular Industry of Colombia (Asocel), Tulio Arbeláez Angel. The director declared that a 60 percent of the cases of robberies commits of a pull or “raponazo”, and needed that many stolen apparatuses are going to stop to countries border like Ecuador. “The data throw that they rob between 1.500.000 and 1.600.000 cellular ones to the year, a number that demonstrates the desired thing that it is this criminal modality ", indicated Arbeláez Angel. It needed that the robbed apparatuses represent the six percent of the total of movable telephones that there are in the country, which they calculate in more than 25 million. The spokesman of the companies of cellular telephony explained that “the robbery of cellular has become an activity lucrative, since there is great amount of buyers of equipment used by his low price ". He added that in spite of the technological possibilities of to block the cellular ones robbed, the thieves are able resources to unblock them or to change the serial numbers to them. For two years the companies that offer the service of movable telephony and the Ministry of Communications they agreed to a campaign to restrain the theft of apparatuses, and decided the creation an electronic base of data in line on the robbed telephones to inform to other countries of the Andean region. With EFE
===
===
http://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/2007-03-02/ARTICULO-WEB-NOTA_INTERIOR-3459065.html
eltiempo.com / justicia
Marzo 2 de 2007
Millón y medio de celulares se roban cada año en Colombia
La denuncia fue hecha este viernes por el presidente de la Asociación de la Industria Celular de Colombia (Asocel), Tulio Ángel Arbeláez.
El directivo declaró que un 60 por ciento de los casos de robos se comete de un tirón o "raponazo", y precisó que muchos aparatos hurtados van a parar a países fronterizos como Ecuador.
"Los datos arrojan que se roban entre 1.500.000 y 1.600.000 celulares al año, una cifra que demuestra lo apetecida que es esta modalidad delictiva", señaló Ángel Arbeláez.
Precisó que los aparatos robados representan el seis por ciento del total de teléfonos móviles que hay en el país, que se calculan en más de 25 millones.
El portavoz de las empresas de telefonía celular explicó que "el robo de celulares se ha vuelto una actividad lucrativa, ya que hay gran cantidad de compradores de equipos usados por su bajo precio".
Agregó que pese a la posibilidades tecnológicas de bloquear los celulares robados, los ladrones consiguen recursos para desbloquearlos o cambiarles los números de serie.
Hace dos años las compañías que ofrecen el servicio de telefonía móvil y el Ministerio de Comunicaciones pactaron una campaña para frenar el hurto de aparatos, y acordaron la creación de una base electrónica de datos en línea sobre los teléfonos robados para informar a otros países de la región andina.
Con EFE
Thanks to Velveeta for this post.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1793738/posts?page=227#227
To: All
Middle Eastern men released (TX)
Thoughts of a terror bust subsided in Andrews, as two men of Middle Eastern background were released after being held for several hours.
The men were taken into custody Thursday after attempting to purchase a number of prepaid cell phones from an Andrews Dollar General store, Chief Bud Jones of the Andrews Police Department said. The men were held for between four and five hours.
FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Services officials from Midland were brought in while the men were questioned, Jones said.
The two men, who said they were brothers from Palestine, were determined to be in the country legally, Jones said.
“One did have a lengthy criminal history,” he said.
(snip)
The incident came a day after a man and woman, also reported to be Middle Eastern, had a disagreement in the same Dollar General, Jones said. The couple, driving a rental vehicle out of Houston, left the area before police could question them.
A regional notice was placed in case the couple turns up in another town, Jones said.(snip)
http://www.oaoa.com/news/nw030307c.htm
227 posted on 03/05/2007 3:45:53 PM PST by Velveeta
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1831130/posts
Terrorism Born Here On The South Plains?
KCBD News Channel 11 ^ | 9 May 2007 | Staff
Posted on 05/09/2007 9:19:42 PM PDT by Army Air Corps
A bulk purchase of disposable cell phones across The South Plains is turning into a federal investigation. Muleshoe authorities have questioned a man, who according to police reports, confesses to buying 60 pre-paid cell phones that might later be used to detonate bombs in the Middle East.
The man reportedly bought the phones from stores like Dollar General, Family Dollar and even Wal-mart’s across the region. Lubbock is included in the towns he confessed to buying the phones in. Again, in police reports he admits to a store manager the cell phones would eventually be used as bomb detonators in Iraq.
There are still plenty of unanswered questions. Questions we will continue to ask in the days and weeks to come. But what we do know is that a man of middle eastern descent who lives in San Antonio was questioned by Muleshoe police a week ago this past Monday. This after he tried to buy more cell phones than allowed by dollar general store policy.
“They had a gentleman trying to buy multiple phones and they’ve had some training from homeland security about multiple purchases and that if somebody were to try and buy more than the 2 phones allotted to notify law enforcement immediately,” said Chief Brian Frieda of the Muleshoe Police.
Dollar General did just that, call the Muleshoe Police.
Frieda said, “He eluded to the fact that he had 60 plus phones that he had obtained over the course of about a 3 day period.”
Police Surveillance Video:
(Police)”so how many phones do you have in your car?”
(Man) “60.”
(Police) “60?”
(Man) “yes. I got some of them from...”
(Police) “Odessa, San Angelo, Midland, Lubbock...”
(Man) “...Muleshoe... Each town I got like 15.”
He says he bought the phones to sell them to a man in Dallas named Jalel. He goes on to say, depending on the phone and the provider he makes between $3 and $8 per phone.
Police Surveillance Video:
(Police) “What is the purpose for buying so many Tracfones?”
(Man) “For business to sell it. Buy and sell.”
Once he deliver’s the phones to Dallas, the man who buys them reportedly takes them apart.
Police Surveillance Video:
(Man) “He cut the battery. He cut the phone and put the phone here, the battery here and throws the charger.”
(Police) “Throws the chargers away?”
(Man) “Mm hmm.”
The man claims this isn’t the first time this man has been questioned by police. Also telling officers his contacts in Dallas told him how to deal with authorities when questioned.
He said, “Sometime when I go out in San Antonio the police, they stop me or they follow me and ask what this for, what this for and he tell me don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it, just go and buy.”
In police reports, the manager of Dollar General says: graphic:
Dollar General, Family Dollar and Alco all have an agreement that if anyone purchases two Tracfones or try’s to purchases more than two Tracfones the store employees call the other stores.
Frieda added, “There are no laws prohibiting the person to buy 1 phone, 20 phones are a hundred phones for a period of time.”
The man in that police video has obtained resident alien status in the State of Texas and at this point, his whereabouts are unknown to the authorities we talked to.
Interesting...
Note: The following text is a quote:
https://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=67957
you are here: Home > Reports > Safety and Security Reports > Report
Colombia SIM Card Security
Safety & Security
Americas - Colombia
9 May 2007
Printer Friendly Email Article
Related Reports
10 Apr 2007
Worldwide Caution Public Announcement
21 Feb 2007
Colombia 2007 Crime & Safety Report
An OSAC constituent reported the following:
An employee of an American private sector organization who traveled to Bogota, Colombia in April noted unique security measures being imposed on the purchase of SIM cards for cell phones. When the employee went to a local cell phone store to purchase a SIM card, the manager informed him that he would need to be fingerprinted before the purchase could be completed. Although this seemed like an unusual and suspicious requirement, the employee acquiesced. Upon returning to the United States, he reported the incident to his security director who reported it to the Regional Security Office at U.S. Embassy Bogota and to another private sector contact. Both parties verified that this procedure was legitimate and commonplace in Colombia.
The OSAC constituent involved believes it would be useful for other members of the U.S. private sector to be aware of this procedure as it is dissimilar enough to U.S. cell phone procedures to reasonably arouse suspicion. This incident also highlights the importance of information sharing when operating in a new environment.
ADDING THIS UPDATE:
STEPPING BACK IN TIME...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1696286/posts
“Charges dropped in Mich. cell phone case”
AP / Yahoo! News ^ | Tue Sep 5, 9:07 PM ET | DAVID N. GOODMAN
Posted on 09/06/2006 4:40:52 AM PDT by FreedomPoster
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “DETROIT - A federal judge threw out conspiracy and money laundering charges Tuesday against three Texas men once accused of plotting a terror attack on Michigan’s iconic Mackinac Bridge.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Charles Binder in Bay City ruled that federal prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to justify bringing them to trial on charges involving the buying and resale of prepaid cell phones. They were cleared earlier of the terror charges.
Defense lawyers claimed the men — Louai Othman, 23, his brother Adham Othman, 21, and their cousin Maruan Muhareb, 18, all of Mesquite, Texas — were targeted because of their Middle Eastern heritage. All are Palestinian-American.
“I’m happy to be going home, and I’m happy that I’m free,” Adham Othman said through his lawyer, Christopher McGrath.
The three were arrested Aug. 11 after buying large numbers of prepaid cell phones at a Wal-Mart outlet in Caro, about 80 miles north of Detroit.
Tuscola County authorities said they were alarmed by the hundreds of prepaid cell phones they said were found in the men’s van and by images on their digital camera of the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge, which links Michigan’s two peninsulas.
They charged the men with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and with surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes.
The FBI and state police later said there was no imminent threat to the landmark span and no information linking the Othmans and Muhareb to known terrorist groups.”
“Burglars steal $1.5 million in cell phones from Deerfield warehouse”
By Macollvie Jean-Francois
Sun-Sentinel.com
Posted May 1 2007, 2:58 PM EDT
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “DEERFIELD BEACH — Burglars stole almost 8,000 phones worth at least $1.5 million from a cell phone warehouse over the weekend, prompting the company’s owner Tuesday to offer a $50,000 reward.
Burglars broke into Reagan Wireless, at 3390 S.W. 15th St., about 5 p.m. Sunday, a Broward Sheriff’s Office report and company owner Daniel Kaufman said. The burglars cut a large hole into the 20,000-square foot building’s back wall and used the company’s forklift to remove large boxes of phones from the shelves.”
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