3 Texas men arraigned on terror charges (Caro, Michigan TracPhone Bust)

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | August 13, 2006 | AP

[pointsal]

GREAT OBSERVATION.... it worked for capone

...or rather it worked against capone... :)

[hellinahandcart]

[Linda Odeh, wife of Louai Othman] explained that the men sell the phones to a wholesaler in Dallas.

Um, yeah. The dumbest wholesaler on earth, apparently, one incapable of getting things wholesale himself, or getting the phones straight from WalMart without paying a $5 bounty on each one.

What's the name of this mythical wholesaler? How long has he been in business? What are his business earnings? Who are his ripped-off clients?

You'd think these clowns would have come up with a better story.

[sportutegrl]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131436/

[MDspinboyredux]

Also if you have $55K to spend on phones you've got the tuition thing covered.

Good point! I thought the same thing.

[Jim Noble]

" ... Only Adham Othman appears to have a criminal history. He is a registered sex offender in Texas who has a 1999 conviction for indecency with a child by sexual contact involving a 5-year-old girl, state records show.

What, there's no goats in Texas?

[MDspinboyredux]

Hmmm...

A wholesaler who pays $5 ABOVE retail??

Not a very good "businessman" if you ask me.

[6ppc]

What terrorist plan could involve 1,000 cell phones?

Or you are planning an extended terror campaign across the US using cell phone triggered IMDs. They don't need this many phones for day to day communications.

[demkicker]

You use one for a short period of time and then discard it. Or you make only a few phone calls to one person and then discard it, so the NSA can not connect the dots, i.e. calls made between one phone/individual and 13 terror related people..

This is exactly why congress needs to ban phones that cannot be traced back to an individual providing name, address and proof of identity. Granted, people have fake ID's, but if someone provides false information they can be nailed for that and their terrorist intentions will be crystal clear.

[6ppc]

Shipping them to Middle East for use as IED detonators.

Won't work. Locally purchased pre-paid cell phones are not likely to work overseas because none of the networks would be in the calling plans.

[texastoo]

Suicide bombers will kill if they are legal or illegal.

The main problem, IMO, the elite have let too many UNAmerican individuals in this country, legally and illegally. False information appears to be a way of life for many in this country now.

[demkicker]

Suicide bombers will kill if they are legal or illegal.

Did I lead you to believe I thought otherwise? My point is that after we catch these terrorists with hundreds of phones and they lawyer up, it surely will be easier to prosecute them if they've provided false information to buy the phones.

I'd also like for this to be a federal crime, punishable by life in prison.

[Recon Dad]

Hey Walmart, you're leaving $5 bucks on the table.

[Wolverine]

The new jypsies..."do the attacks now"

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

They don't need this many phones for day to day communications.

They do if they are buying for the whole terror network. And if they expect the US to crack down on the sales (stockpiling).

This is dual-use technology. Make detonators from a few, use the rest to communicate (imagine how many phones you would use if you had to throw away each one after 1 call). Thanks to the NYT, the terrorists now know what they have to do to stay hidden.

There is the possibility that these are just Muslim kids buying phones on the orders of the local imam, without knowing what they were doing. They should still go to jail for it (ask questions next time...).

[PistolPaknMama]

but Odeh [Linda Odeh, wife of Louai Othman] explained that the men sell the phones to a wholesaler in Dallas

That has a bad smell to it. Why would they buy cell phones from a RETAILER to resell to a WHOLESALER. Hmmmm...

[RichardW]

"But neighbors like Ricardo Caldurilla have suspicions. "They had like vans out here, and they keep moving boxes, taking them upstairs, and they have cell phone markings on them," he said.

Apartment resident Rolando Rangel said he saw about ten family members packing a moving van once the news broke. "They moved out of that apartment in about an hour," he said."

---

Looks like a terrorist ring has been broken up at least temporarily. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Time to get Jack Bauer involved.

[Beckwith]

Those numbers don't add up. The wife is a liar.

Surprise!!

[conservative in nyc]

A wholesaler who pays $5 ABOVE retail??

Not a very good "businessman" if you ask me.

The wholesaler is still a good businessman if he's selling the phones for $10 above retail to evil doers.

Logically, bulk sales of the phone might command a premium if you can usually only buy 3 or 4 without arising suspicion and getting on store surveillance cameras. And there probably is a market for bulk sales of phones - terrorists, gangs and organized crime. Plus, the phones and the batteries might be sold separately to different evil doers, since meth labs need the lithium from the batteries and people who want to have untracked conversations or build IEDs need the phones but don't really need new batteries, just new phones.

[scan58]

On top of that...$55,000 by itself is already much more than enough to "pay for his brother's college education". This is a shabby story.

[hellinahandcart]

The wholesaler is still a good businessman if he's selling the phones for $10 above retail to evil doers.

He may be a good businessman, but if he's selling above retail he ain't no "wholesaler". Which was my whole point.