Posted on 08/14/2006 12:16:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CARO, Mich. - The FBI said Monday it had no information to indicate that the three Texas men arrested with about 1,000 cell phones in their van had any direct connection to known terrorist groups.
Authorities had increased patrols on Michigan's 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge after local prosecutors said investigators believed the men were targeting the span.
Local authorities didn't say what they believed the men intended to do with the phones, most of which were prepaid TracFones, but Caro's police chief noted that cell phones can be untraceable and used as detonators.
The FBI issued a news release Monday saying there is no imminent threat to the bridge linking Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.
The release also said the FBI had no information indicating that the men, Palestinian-Americans living in Texas, had any direct links to any known terrorist groups or to the alleged plot to bomb trans-Atlantic jetliners that was announced in London last week.
William Kowalski, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit field office, said authorities believe concern about the bridge was connected to images of the Mackinac Bridge found on a digital camera belonging to the men.
Kowalski said there was nothing illegal about buying cell phones in bulk, but that profits from that kind of activity can be suspicious.
Adham Abdelhamid Othman, 21, of Dallas, and Maruan Awad Muhareb, 18, and Louai Abdelhamied Othman, 23, both of Mesquite, Texas, were stopped by police Friday outside a Wal-Mart store in Caro, about 80 miles north of Detroit after employees became suspicious when they purchased about 80 cell phones.
Local prosecutors charged them with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes.
The men told a magistrate Saturday that they were buying the phones for resale.
Louai Othman's wife, Lina Odeh, told The Associated Press on Saturday that she thought her husband and relatives were targeted because of their Arab descent. She said the men's families come from Jerusalem.
Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene said Monday that representatives of his office and Caro police had met with Sunday with officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney's office. He said all the agencies were working together on the investigation.
Messages seeking further comment from Reene were not immediately returned.
To Bush's credit he now has 'Islamic Fascist' in his vocabulary, but you have a point for debate. So does popular right-thinking writer Mark Steyn thinking along your lines: "...Bomb us, and we agonize over the “root causes” (that is, what we did wrong). Decapitate us, and our politicians rush to the nearest mosque to declare that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’. Issue bloodcurdling calls at Friday prayers to kill all the Jews and infidels, and we fret that it may cause a backlash against Muslims.”
So did right-thinking American Digest.org in his ‘Sleepwalking’ essay, "...We know the nature and goals of our enemy well. Our army is at the ready and in the field. And yet we hesitate..."
So did the right-thinking DiscerningTexan blog with questions on August 10th :
Forgot to add, in the Discerning Texan site, see entry on August 13 re charges being filed by local authorities re cell phone.
Tend to agree. Seems to quick for the FBI to make this claim. I suspect they are still pulling strings to see where they lead.
The FBI knows what's going on with these phones by this time, it's been happening for a while -
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1515879/posts
Wonder how much the local yokel cops are going to have to pay for the false arrests ?
I'm with you guys. Even so, I hope they stuck one of those nextel's w/ the GPS unit up Haji's backside so we can track their movements for a few days.
If it looks like a skunk, smells like a skunk...
The local news just announced charges will be dropped against the Ohio jihadists cell phone bootleggers. Apparently, its not illegal to sell phones to crack heads and dope dealers...
Do these phones have any kind of locational ability?
On the Dearborn cell phone guys, I just read this, (not sure if you know this and I am behind)
Vessels said Thursday that police found a security guide for Royal Jordanian Airlines in the suspects' car. The guide had details on how to turn on computers at the airlines, and also how to delete bag tag numbers, pull up passenger flight lists and reissue boarding passes. Police found the guide in the suspects' car after pulling them over for a traffic violation.
I don't think they have the GPS gizmo....
Disinformation is echoing around. It seems that the phones in their original bubble packaging do not have the battery inside the phone, nor the charger connected. Separating them into groups and pitching the packaging makes sense if they are going to be shipped in bulk somewhere else. It takes up less space. At the destination each customer gets handed one phone, one battery, and one charger.
Not me!
I understand they threw out the chargers and only kept the phone.
You cannot ship the phone with the battery, so the batteries were removed.
I think the Feds let them go to follow the phones. Unfortunately, they will likely trash can the ones they bought and buy new ones, thinking the feds bugged them...which they probably are doing as we speak.
These phones are making their way to arms dealers and the like who furnish them to their clients. They uses them one day and throw them out or use them for detonators, to prohibit phone traces.
That's what I think......
And, a debit card, a credit card, or checks would start raising eyebrows and possible temporary freezes when a large volume of transactions started to roll in. Cash doesn't have that inconvenience.
I heard nothing about pitched chargers, only chargers being packaged together separately.
So long as their customers don't know, they won't care if the Fibbies recorded all the numbers.
It is possible that the chargers are not needed where they are going. The Hezbo supply SGT or whatever, simply needs to charge the battery and issue the phones for the mission. He probably has a crap load of chargers already.
Since the phone is only used a short time, recharging is not needed.
There is no other reason to take the charger out of the package.....
But I'm not.....LOL...
It's not. Seriously.
Conservatism is in great danger when even capitalism is labelled terrorism.
BS...
Look up TracFone SIM Card on ebay -
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-NEW-Unused-Non-Activated-TRACFONE-SIM-CARD-2K-LOT_W0QQitemZ320017069634QQihZ011QQcategoryZ48501QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
This seller is selling bulk lots of 2000 Unactivated TracFone SIM Cards for $399.99 at Buy It Now Prices (that is $.20 per SIM Card if you buy 2000 of them )- the person has twenty five lots of 2000 in each lot.
The funny thing is, that crack heads and dope dealers are welcome at Walmart too! :-)
I can't believe people are actually buying this resale story....I hope the Feds are simply putting out a cover story.
$20 each. It was a loss-leader sale by Walmart.
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