Posted on 01/07/2007 1:15:26 PM PST by nuconvert
Authorities found two 55-gallon containers in truck trying to enter Port of Miami-Dade
Jan. 07, 2007
By DAVID OVALLE, JAY WEAVER, ALDO NAHED and ROB BARRY jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
Authorities discovered two suspicious 55-gallon containers in the back of a truck operated by an Iraqi man who sparked a national security investigation after he was stopped from entering the Port of Miami-Dade on Sunday morning.
Miami-Dade County police's bomb squad and fire rescue's hazmat team were examining the 18-wheel tractor-trailer truck to determine what the containers' held, police said.
It all began at around 9 a.m. when Miami-Dade police stopped the driver, an Iraqi national, as he tried to enter the port without proper paperwork. H
Sunday is a busy passenger day at the port, as a handful of cruise ships that accommodate thousands of passengers arrive in the morning and depart in the afternoon.
Police said when the driver was stopped at the security gate, he appeared nervous and would not make eye contact during questioning, authorities said. The driver said he was alone but police later found two other Middle Eastern nationals hiding in the truck's cab.
Also, the driver's manifest indicated he was carrying auto parts, but nothing like that was found in the truck, authorities said.
None of the men has been arrested. They were being detained for questioning.
''Port operations have not been impacted,'' said Miami-Dade police spokesman Robert Williams. ``The cargo area and the cruise ship area were not impacted.''
FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said the driver and the others were placed in custody. The hidden passengers were a second Iraqi man and a Lebanese national. Both were found inside the small cab of the blue and white semi.
''Right now, we're trying to figure out what these men were trying to do,'' said Orihuela. A press conference will be held later today at the port.
She said all three men were lawful U.S. permanent residents and were not listed on a watch list of terror suspects.
She said the incident began when the Iraqi driver tried to make a delivery at the port and was told he needed a day pass.
The incident prompted a brief shut-down of the port as members of several federal, local and state law enforcement agencies converged on the busy facility.
Sunday is a busy day for cruise ship travel at the port. Cruise line officials said embarkation of some ships may encounter brief delays.
''If this causes a slight delay it won't be anything significant,'' said Royal Caribbean spokesman Michael Sheehan. The cruise line's Freedom of the Seas was among the ships slated to sail out this afternoon. Authorities in Washington, D.C., have been notified of the incident, Orihuela said.
Herald staff writers Rob Barry and Luisa Yanez contributed to this report
Were they empty containers I wonder?
Doesn't make it clear.
The news seems to be dribbling out.
We'll have to wait to find out.
Doesn't make it clear.
And maybe won't. If they were of ME descent, their identity will be protected, if not, one story and then it will die. Can't scare the sheeple ya know.
Did you have 2 arabs hiding in your cab?
If they were empty then why would they be referred to as suspicious? Banging on an empty 55 gallon drum will instantly tell you they are empty. Of course, not knowing whether a 55 gallon drum is empty or not would preclude someone from wanting to bang on them.
Nothing to see here,move along.
I thought I heard a report that at least one was a fugitive.
They would be considered suspicious because not knowing you don't have two large containers in your truck is pretty suspicious and the description is only that.
I expect this story like the probably hundreds of other stories we have all followed to turn out as nothing significant.
At least I hope so.
Look forward to a LOT more of this. Homeland Security is missing 100,000 resident application files and went ahead and issued them papers anyway. Just the agency we need to administer another guest worker program of 12 to 20 million people.
More Than 100,000 U.S. Government Immigration Files Missing 12/13/2006 10:03:53 AM
The GAO discovered that of the naturalization applications adjudicated in 2005, about 30,000 --or about 4 percent of them -- may have been adjudicated without access to the aliens' files.
An investigation by the Government Accountability Office revealed that the US government processed about 30,000 citizenship applications even though the office of the US Citizenship Immigration Services acknowledged they were missing 110,000 A-Files or alien files.(snip)
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?29ec4761-3182-494b-a1b6-5ef2e6840f0e
A dry run?
My guess is that if they were empty, then it was because the "cargo" had been transferred to the back of the cab.
Wow, that didn't take long. The Rats are in power in Congress, for what 5 seconds?, and the IslamoNazis prepare for attack.
Nahh. I generally strap my Arabs down on the hood.
Then he should have said so. Why bring in the FBI? Empty containers are no reason to call them in, the port must get hundreds of situtations a day like the one you described. I don't remember hearing the feds brought into it.
If they were empty, I wonder what was in them before that.
"The driver said he was alone but police later found two other Middle Eastern nationals hiding in the truck's cab."
Damn! How big is this guy's cab, anyway? It takes a multi-cop search to find add'l "Middle East" guys tucked away in there? Maybe somebody ought to put in a call to Dr Who...
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