The phones are usually hanging on a rack and sometimes you need a key so you just have to call a manager.
I wanted to replace a phone with one a tad bit “smarter” and found one on sale, reduced from $59.82 to $9.82. That’s not a typo. I even bought a second one as backup, figuring it was cheap insurance in case it breaks, gets damaged, stolen, etc. There were no more than 3-5 on the rack, though.
However, 60 is rather odd. It’s possible they intend to make money on them. It’s also possible they can be used for “other” purposes. I would be interested if the men were members of a mosque somewhere.
However.... Setting the "4AM" and "Middle Eastern" bits of this story aside, as they're just intended to inflame opinion ... I'd think that the purchase of 60 burner cell phones would raise an eyebrow or two at the FBI. A quick visit / phone call to check shouldn't surprise anyone.
I'll build up a strawman for people to knock down... It's 4am. There's a guy you don't recognize coming out of the back door of the house 3 doors down from you and he's carrying a large screen TV. Now, it could be perfectly legal and legitimate. It's entirely possible that you have eccentric neighbors who like to hire people to take their TVs for a walk in the middle of the night. Or maybe they work 3rd shift and can't move it any other time. But wouldn't you (or a cop) want to stop and ask what was going on?