Posted on 08/13/2006 4:54:24 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) DALLAS -- The wife of one of three Texas men arraigned on terrorism-related charges in Michigan says her husband and his relatives are not terrorists, but are simply trying to make money by reselling cell phones.
"They're locked up in jail for something that they didn't do," 20-year-old Lina Odeh told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Her husband, Louai Abdelhamied Othman of Mesquite, along with his brother, Adham Abdelhamid Othman of Dallas, and their cousin Maruan Awad Muhareb of Mesquite, are charged with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes.
Police found about 1,000 cell phones in the men's minivan. Authorities have not said what they believe the men intended to do with the phones, most of which were prepaid TracFones. But the police chief in Caro, Mich., where they were arrested, said cell phones can be used as detonators, and prosecutors in a similar case in Ohio have said that TracFones are often used by terrorists because they are not traceable.
Odeh said the men were buying the phones to sell to a man in Dallas for a profit of about $5 per phone. She said they were in Michigan because so many people in the Dallas area are doing the same thing that the phones are often sold out.
Odeh said she thought her husband and her relatives were targeted because of their Arab descent. The men's families come from Jerusalem, she said.
The men were stopped early Friday about 80 miles north of Detroit after purchasing 80 cell phones from a Wal-Mart. Police said they found about 1,000 phones in their minivan. The men were arrested Friday afternoon.
No pleas were entered at the arraignment Saturday at a District Court in Caro. A magistrate set bond at $750,000 apiece and the men were being held at the Tuscola County Jail, police said.
"All we did is buy the phones to sell and make money," Louai Othman told the magistrate. He said authorities had previously stopped the group in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Muhareb told the magistrate: "This is a misunderstanding." He said he was selling the phones to earn money to help pay for his brother's college education.
Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene told The Saginaw News in Michigan that investigators believe the men were targeting the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas. He declined to say what led investigators to that belief.
Reene and the FBI did not return phone messages Saturday from The Associated Press.
Odeh said the family is working to get an attorney for the men.
"I just want everyone to know that they're innocent and they shouldn't be locked up in jail without any evidence," she said.
Her husband is a college student and they have a 2-month-old baby, Odeh said.
A pretrial hearing has been set for Friday and a preliminary exam for Aug. 24.
The arrests in Michigan came three days after two men were arrested in Marietta, Ohio, where police said they aroused suspicions when they acknowledged buying about 600 phones in recent months at stores in southeast Ohio.
Ali Houssaiky and Osama Abulhassan, both 20 and from the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, have been charged with two felonies -- money laundering in support of terrorism and soliciting or providing support for acts of terrorism -- and misdemeanor falsification. A preliminary hearing on the felony counts was set for Tuesday.
Defense lawyers said Houssaiky and Abulhassan planned to resell the phones simply to make money. They say the men were targeted only because they are of Arab descent.
He said authorities had previously stopped the group in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Put a PORK product on and IN everything...the plane food should all have some PORK or pork skin seats.....I am so sick of Muslims I could vomit.
I have a strong belief they purchased the cell phones to be used for one time communications between themselves. There is no way they could take out the bridge.
They wouldn't need to take out the bridge when hundreds of soft targets are going to be strolling across it on Labor Day.
i like that....right to the point......
I seem to recall after 9/11 there was a lot of activity centered around a Dallas mosque and Islamic charities. I don't remember offhand. I'll see if I can dig it up.
I don't think most people realize just how large the Mighty Mac really is. The Golden Gate bridge gets the glamor but it's just a baby compared to that big boy.
They usually have around 50 or 60 thousand bridge walkers.
Good question. Now, what would one guy in Dallas need with that many cell phones, what is his name and contact number, why didn't he just buy them himself, why doesn't he want the chargers, and did he ever meet el Hage?
Why was removing the batteries and getting rid of the packaging and chargers so important that the perps just had to do it while driving cross country?
And why is it the media mention the different suspected groups, but leaves out that one group was also found to have airport security information and a flight list in their vehicle?
I wonder what kind of penalty I would get for trying that stunt in Saudi Arabia?
Great catch!
I remember stories of two or three Muslims supposedly on an Amtrak train for Dallas causing the authorities some concern in the days immediately following 9/11.
no Walmarts in Texas???
This Talking Point comes courtesy of our friends at the New York Times.
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