[TheDandyMan]

Why would they bother to lug in a prayer rug and Koran, and then drop these items in the desert?

[robowombat]

Because those who abandon such items are really getting desperate. No food or water, nothing but desert ahead. The coyotes dump them out in the middle of no where and tell these folks to start walking north. The US and local governments are coy about how many human remains are found out in the desert and one can only speculate on how many skeletons are never found.

[going hot]

The use the rugs until they infiltrate.

Then they discard them and assume a non muslim disguise in preparation for mayhem and sabotage, etc.

[Bethaneidh]

Yup, suspicious.