Posted on 08/14/2006 10:56:09 AM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Terrorists in Caro?
By Amy Joles Staff Writer
CARO — Whether sold for profit or as bomb detonators, the purchase of 80 disposable prepaid cell phones by three Palestinian men raised eyebrows at Wal-Mart SuperCenter Friday morning.
“Are they terrorists or involved with terrorism?” asked Caro Chief Benson Page. “I can’t prove that right now. But at this point, I have a suspicion of that.”
FBI agents arrived in Caro shortly after 10 a.m. Friday to question the men who purchased the phones earlier that same morning, 1:50 a.m.
The same kind of phones - which do not require purchasers to sign a contract - were used to detonate bombs terrorists used in the Madrid train attacks in March 2004.
Local authorities were notified of the suspicious purchase by Wal-Mart employees after the men had went through check lanes multiple times. Wal-Mart has a policy of allowing only three disposable phones to be purchased per customer.
Caro officer Mike Gebauer pulled over the trio in front of R & R Towing in Caro, along M-81.
“When the officer pulled them over, he witnessed one of the subjects opening the packaging of one of the phones,” said Page.
About 1,000 disposable cell phones were located inside the men’s rented Dodge van, which had a Texas license plate.
“They are quite open about what they are doing,” said Page Friday morning. “They say they are purchasing the phones around the country for about $20 a piece and selling them in Texas for $38 each... They say they are raising money for school.”
The majority of the phones were stored in cardboard boxes, without any packaging. The men also told authorities they separated the batteries from the phones.
“There’s a couple of reasons why you would do that,” said Page. “If you are using them as a bomb detonator, you don’t really need a battery in there, do you? And secondly, batteries can be used in methamphetamine production.”
“Are these young men terrorists or the terrorists profiting from the sale of these phones? I don’t know,” said Page. “I would suspect so - most likely.”
Back in January, federal agents launched an investigation into a surge in purchases of disposable cell phones. These large purchases - up to 150 phones - have been happening around the country.
“The Lapeer Meijer had a similar situation recently,” said Page. “They are hitting these stores in the middle of the night because they are thinking the clerks are not as experienced.”
Authorities could not release the male subjects names, however, they are between the ages of 19-23. Two are brothers and the other is a cousin.
Page said the young men can speak English, Spanish and Arabic. One young man reported he was born in Texas. The other two said they were born in Jerusalem and Puerto Rico.
Authorities asked the men to stay in Caro to await further questioning until FBI agents could arrive on the scene. The men awaited questioning in their van, parked outside the Tuscola County Sheriff’s Department.
“They’re not going anywhere,” said Page. “We have their phones and I think they want them before they take off.”
Caro Wal-Mart officials did not return the Advertiser’s phone inquiries.
Amy Joles is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at joles@tcadvertiser.com.
— (Singed) You’re freindly ediders.
FBI: No terror groups in cell phone case ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1683529/posts
This story was on the front page of the Grand Rapids Press yesterday (Sunday) with photos of the three men. Their names are: Adham Abdelhamid Othman, Louai Abdelhamied Othman and Mauan Awad Muhareb. From their photos, they could pass for Hispanic or Middle Easterners. The headline of the article in the Grand Rapids Press says "Men Suspected of Mackinac plot." On the local news someone said they found evidence to suspect they planned to target the famous Mackinac Bridge. I can't believe this has not been a bigger story.
What the FBI says is they have no known terrorist connections. There's always a first time.
Besides, the FBI is so often clueless, I don't rely on anything they say. A year or so ago they said there were no sleeper cells in this country which is demonstrably incorrect.
I figure that's what it's about. I also figure the boys in tech have a surprise for them. At least I hope.
That makes even more sense. You should see the market value of older models of SatTV receivers. They were selling for more than new models. Why? They could be hacked.
There needs to be a terror proof ANSI standard?
We don't call them The Feebs for nothing.
Dude,
There is no way to do that. If a phone can ring, it can initiate a detonator.
My god, now I know that people really do listen to Art Bell, all these idiot conspiracy theories based on technical ignorance.
walmart.com has them on sale for 19.97. They could have saved alot of time and gas money by purchasing them on-line. (that would have worked if it was truly legit).
Let's do the math...1000 phones x $20 = $20,000. They already had money for school.
I wonder if Tracfone has reserved a block of phone numbers (to be assigned to the phones) that can be called whenever necessary.
Didn't mean to be a huge jerk, but if you are going to base a conspiracy theory on something, do a little research on the basic facts.
Idaho Whacko wrote:
You make too many assumptions. Perhaps the lack of sleep from the circling black helecopters.
You should probably pick up a copy of Inside Al Qaeda, by Rohan Gunaratna, the definitive text on the subject.
Al Qaeda doesn't field support teams two weeks before an operation.
Two years is more like it.
I stand by what I posted, at least until someone with access to more facts than I've seen to date, can offer reasons and logic why I shouldn't.
Your argument falls well short of that level.
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