Tucson authorities looking for 2 Middle Eastern men

KVOA Tucson Channel 4 News ^ | Lorraine Rivera

[SandRat]

Law enforcement sources confirm to News 4 that Tucson Police have issued an "attempt to locate" on two Middle Eastern men in their 20's who purchased nearly 50 phones from Sam's Club and Wal-Mart in Tucson.

Sources say the men made the purchases on Saturday and Sunday.

There's been a number of arrests nationwide with very similar circumstances.

News 4 is not linking this case with the national cases, but we do want to point out how similar they are.

Arrests have been made in Michigan and Ohio and there are reports of large numbers of cell phones being sold to young men fitting the same description in Wisconsin.

There was a very similar case that went down in Antigo, Wisconsin where police say another group of men bought more than 90 cell phones from 4 different stores.

News 4 spoke with a Wal-mart and Sam's Club representative and he would not confirm nor deny that these men did in fact buy those phones.

Instead, he referred us to the police and we spoke with the Pima Sheriff's Department and the Marana and Oro Valley police departments.

Tucson law enforcement authorities confirmed late Sunday night that officers are searching for these two men.

[kstewskis]

We never did hear about that phone in the plane yesterday. Was it a throw away?

Dunno, I never heard the follow up either.

[Spiff]

Something is up. Too much coincidence. Don't know if its the August 22nd date or that we're nearing the 5th anniversary of 9/11. I don't know why we can't just keep them all locked up in local jails til we squeeze as much info out of them as possible.

[CindyDawg]

If it was a regular phone they would have traced it to a passenger and we would have heard that "so in so" was arrested for......wouldn't you think?

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

with all these cell-phone stories recently, I am beginning to wonder if we soon will have a day here in the US like Madrid and London did but with waaay more remotely detonated bombs across the country.....

[Paved Paradise]

Have you read it?

[kstewskis]

If it was a regular phone they would have traced it to a passenger and we would have heard that "so in so" was arrested for......wouldn't you think?

Yep.

Fox news is reporting that the three guys with the 100 cell phones in Dearborn won't be indicted, because "there isn't enough evidence that it is terrorism related."

Yeah right. Then why is it happening in every major city, as well as not so major cities??

(Feel like a sitting duck yet?)

[pissant]

Well, we have certainly arrested alot of terrorists lately.

The only ones that they said there appeared no connection to terrorism is the 11 egyptian students. The cell phone buyers are being vigorously examined and the clowns in Miami were arrested on terrorism charges.

[Bubble Girl]

Here is an idea on how to regulate such items as these Tracfones..

Some Cold Medicines Move Behind Counter

By Linda Bren

Some over-the-counter (OTC) cold and allergy medicines are being moved behind the counter at pharmacies nationwide as part of the fight against illegal drug production.

Under the Patriot Act signed by President Bush on March 9, 2006, all drug products that contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine must be kept behind the pharmacy counter and must be sold in limited quantities to consumers after they show identification and sign a logbook.

Pseudoephedrine is a drug found in both OTC and prescription products used to relieve nasal or sinus congestion caused by the common cold, sinusitis, hay fever, and other respiratory allergies. The drug is also a key ingredient in making methamphetamine--a powerful, highly addictive stimulant often produced illegally by "meth cooks" in home laboratories.

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2006/406_meth.html

[LibSnubber]

"Clerks are trained to keep an eye out for this type of behavior. They have been helping authorities for years in tracking down meth labs."

It's more than just clerks being trained... I have to show my friggin driver's license in order to buy ONE box of Aleve cold & sinus medication. Why on earth can't the lawmakers of this country make it mandatory that you have to show an ID when purchasing multiple cell phones??? What is this country is in greater danger from: terrorists or meth labs?!?

[MediaMole]

At first I thought these guys were al qaeda, but now I think they are a diversion. Either they are creating a focus on tracfones to make the FBI look in the wrong direction or they are trying to swamp the NSA's ability to track communication in advance of an attack. All the phones shipped to Walmart are now on the NSA "hot list."

I think there are two plays. 1. Real conspirators are encouraging their co-religionists to buy phones as some sort of get rich quick scheme. 2. They are low level al qaeda supporters intentionally being sent out with a specific plan to divert FBI resources into a wild goose chase for cell phone purchasers.

It is possible that the guys out buying phones are patsies for the real terrorists. It sure doesn't hurt al qaeda to have FBI anti-terrorist agents in Michigan and the Southwest while al qaeda plots another strike at NYC and Washington, DC.

[CindyDawg]

We have lots of laws. I'm sure they can find something they broke and lock them up for a couple of weeks.

[Battle Axe]

This is all based on the Japanese tourist who lost his life on a plane, that thankfully did not go down. The explosion was not strong enough to pierce the fuselage. But that one passenger did die. It actually blew his butt off. The terrorist had gone to the bathroom and mixed up the liquid chemicals and then used a "Casio" WATCH mechanism to supply the ignition spark. It was set for a time after the terrorist's flight had landed. The watch and liquid bomb was placed under the seat...where the terrorist was sitting. That's how they traced it. The plane loaded up again and took off to another destination.

The cell phone sparks, could possibly be remote controlled, just call the cell phone. Where the watch was more like an alarm clock.

Note something here Freepers:

A: WTC-93/ 9-11-01
B: Japanese Tourist/ now more liquid bombs this time with cell phone sparks
C. Anthrax letters October 2001..............

[RecallMoran]

LGF posts say that they are stripping the phones of the charger and the battery and packing the stripped phones into small boxes.

[oldtimer]

America does not hear, because the sheeple are believing ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, Air America, and the libs at the NY Times, etc.

The ACLU needs to go to bat for these nice young men who like to buy cell phones, and besides it is profiling!

Keep your powder dry Freepers. It is going to get really ugly IMO.

[Minutemen]

Someone needs to tell these guys about WHOLESALERS!!!

...And spending all that money for gasoline by driving vans all over the U.S.A. has really gotta be puttin a dent in their business' "bottom line"!

[kstewskis]

We have lots of laws. I'm sure they can find something they broke and lock them up for a couple of weeks.

True.

They did that w/Padilla, no?

[Paved Paradise]

When did this happen? Was this the practice run I heard about on the news (happened in Pakistan)?

[shield]

I can't believe these clerks allow so many phones to be purchased. I thought you couldn't buy more than 2 phones.

[PA Engineer]

Here is a link to a running thread on a compilation of moslems buying numerous cell phones. Please add to the list any incidents that have not been reported.

Looking for Map of Cell Phone Purchases

[jjtwo]

is law enforcement planning on giving us better descriptions or pictures of the pieces of s#$%