Posted on 08/17/2006 9:15:23 PM PDT by idsujmxzcg
BAY CITY -- Lawyers for three Texas men once accused of plotting to blow up the Mackinac Bridge claim the government is bailing out an overzealous prosecutor by bringing unprecedented charges.
Until Wednesday, even the FBI said the business of buying and altering cell phones -- as the men claim was their only motive -- was a legal enterprise, and that the only issue was whether proceeds end up in terrorist coffers.
But now, the FBI and U.S. attorneys in Bay City say the entrepreneurial behavior of three Americans of Palestinian descent amounts to fraud, not terrorism.
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(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
You missed a lot of this thread then. They are either "unlocking" the phones which adds value and/or they are selling them in places were they cannot be obtained so cheaply.
57 posted on 08/18/2006 1:24:29 AM EDT by Boiler Plate
Apparently you do not seem understand the difference between "may be" and "are".
To further expand they may also be in violation of laws as well in regards to transporting goods across state lines and not being registered and licensed as wholesalers. But hey they are just trying to make a buck right even if it is in the black market?
Ebay is probably the worlds greatest fencing operation. In regards to these guys they claim to be making $6000 per trip not per yer year. So let's say they make 30 trips per year that's $180K minus let's say $20K for food and gas. How much do you think you would pay in taxes for that?
You really think these guys are pulling down $180k a year?
It's not clear why you are so consumed and determined on throwing the book at these guys.
How do you know they were for IED ignition?
If these guys are terrorists or assisting them directly then they should be charged with terrorism.
They may be making more than that for all we know and it would be probably be wise to find out where it goes to. They are ME's who are acting suspiciously and may be acting illegaly. The nice innocent people who flew the planes into the WTC and Pentagon did nothing wrong when they took flying lessons. Even when they did not want to bother with the landing and taking off lessons. So yeah maybe you are right ME's buying thousands of untraceable cell phones in cash, discarding the packaging couldn't possibly be up to anything wrong. Nobody hardly ever uses cell phones fo IEDs.
Thank you.
I meant the sort of item diverted for use as a IED ignition devices.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=14925&only
Then people like me laugh our heads off. :o)
It really frosts me that these guys are facing 20 years because the prosecutor wanted to be a big hero and blew it. The Feds should be charging the prosecutor with abuse of power.
yeah, 81 days till the election...................
I have no problem with the FBI and other intelligence agencies looking into the mass cell phone purchases. If any turns up then they should be charged with terrorism.
I do, however, have a problem with an unhealthy obsession with throwing the book at them even if it is determined that they had no terrorist ties whatsoever.
It's cases like these that do more harm than good as it makes us look like we are whipped up into hysteria, which by the tone of the many of the posts in this thread is exactly what is going on.
People that are caught up in hysteria do not think clearly and end up missing the real bad guys.
They are most likely involved in black market activities, which may not be "Terrorist Activities" on the surface, but things are not always what they seem and as you said it is probably a good investment to keep an eye on them. Best Regards,
Boiler Plate
1,000 percent. If they NEVER paid taxes on anything, all I would ask is how I can do the same. I would think that a CONSERVATIVE, posting on a CONSERVATIVE website would ALSO be in favor of NOT paying any more taxes than those which are actually screwed out of one. If these guys can do it and not get caught by the gub'mint thieves, more power to them! Are YOU a gub'mint thief?
...someone is not paying attention. They bought the 1080 phones from Wal-marts across the country. They purchased the last 80 from the Wal-mart in Caro, Michigan by going to different registers, at different times, using different people. So much for the "3 phone" rule.
Quite the opposite. Sounds to me like the "no more than three phones to any one person at any one time" rule is being followed by the cashiers, so much so that they have to hit Walmarts all the way from Dallas to Caro, Michigan to get over 1,000 of them.
LOL Thought you were saying something different, not sure exactly WHAT, but not what you just said. I agree with the above.
LOL - that's what I wanted to know, too.
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