Large Candy purchases investigated by FBI, Suspects in Custody

The Record - Bergen County (New Jersey) ^ | Saturday, October 20, 2001 | MITCHEL MADDUX and PETER POCHNA

[No Fool]

Large candy purchases investigated by FBI

Saturday, October 20, 2001

By MITCHEL MADDUX and PETER POCHNA
Staff Writers

The FBI said Friday that it is investigating the cash purchase of "large quantities" of candy from Costco stores in Hackensack and Wayne.

"We have been advised and we are looking into the incident of a gentleman buying large quantities of candy," said Sandra Carroll, an FBI spokeswoman in Newark.

Carroll declined to identify the purchaser, but indicated that he is in federal custody for immigration law reasons not related to the purchase of the candy. "I cannot comment on INS detainees," Carroll said.

Carroll said it would be premature to draw conclusions about the purchaser's intent for the candy, which agents had not found by Friday night. She declined to describe the candy.

"We have no evidence or information for us to suspect there is any reason to cancel scheduled events," Carroll said when asked if the FBI had concerns about the safety of Halloween. "However, the public is encouraged to remain alert but calm."

Hackensack police took a report from Costco about the candy purchase at the Hackensack store at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday. The police then contacted the FBI. "They told us to stay out of it," said Hackensack Police Chief Charles "Ken" Zisa.

Zisa said the FBI had already learned about the purchase. A local Costco manager had reported the incident to corporate headquarters, near Seattle, and had sent a videotape from a store security camera, Zisa said.

An official at Costco's corporate headquarters said Friday night that no one was available to comment on the matter. Another Costco official, who declined to be identified, said such large purchases from the chain of wholesale grocery and household goods stores are not uncommon.

Kerry Gill, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Newark, said he could not discuss the case because of confidentiality policies.

Copyright © 2001 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Copyright infringement notice

[No Fool]

This article was in a thread. After carving pumpkins last night and getting into the holiday spirit, I thought it should have been posted to Breaking News. Without meaning to cause panic, anything could happen to Halloween candy anywhere in the U.S. at multiple points. Wouldn't the benefit of avoiding any fatalities outweigh the cost of kids dissappointed because they couldn't tick or treat. There are plenty of other ways to have safe and fun halloween!

[ElisabethInCincy]

I decided to ask my husband what to do since he is more calm than i am lol...He said noooooo way the kids are trick or treating this year.......so i will keep then home and do soem fun stuff

[blam]

Poison the candy and quietly redistribute it back into the stores. Security is mostly interested in what you're taking out, not bringing in. UGH.

[neutrino]

Carroll declined to identify the purchaser, but indicated that he is in federal custody for immigration law reasons not related to the purchase of the candy

My, my. Why am I not surprised?

[Sabertooth]

This article has already been posted twice, here with 98 comments, and there with 44 comments.

[Pharmboy]

The Hackensack Costco is the one I go to...just over the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan. Very international crowd there to be sure. Koreans, Japanese and Moslems (the women's dress gives them away) among others. Would they really poison candy for kids?

[winna]

Middle Eastern men videotaping inside of Costco posted on FR on 10/11.

[SarahW]

My question: did they consfiscate the candy?!!

[CathyRyan]

I think parties with home baked Cakes and cookies will be in order this year. I do not think I will be buying baged candy for the party.

[massadvj]

Hackensack... Trenton. Maybe there's a connection. Could be that they were going to anthrax a bunch of Halloween candy. Hope this detainee gets the "Training Day" interrogation.

[homegroan]

I am afraid our children are next; they know that would create immense panic. After all, to them they are children of infedels and worthless. I know if anything like that happened, it would put me over the edge.

[KSCITYBOY]

I would say that terrorist will do anything even poison kids. The WTC proved to the civilized world how evil these people are. Russia, China, etc... are banding together with us because they see this as their future if nothing is done. This is why we have no choice we must eliminate as many terror organizations as possible now and eliminate the funding of them to keep them from having any power in the future. Terrorists are a bateria.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I agree that we should avoid any candy related deaths. But, Isn't this part of the terrorists plan. To disrupt our lifes. Now of course candy isn't so important... but I believe keeping my word to my son is. I am going to come up with another plan that includes trick or treating. I don't know what it is yet... but if we can get a man to the moon we can figure out how to trick or treat this year. I welcome any suggestions.

I am not going to let anyone disrupt my American life. I ( like many others) have had family and country men die for our way of life. I will do my best to live my American life with gratitude to those souls and carry on.

[atafak]

This from an Islamic site:

From an Islamic standpoint, Halloween is one of the worst celebrations because of its origins and history. It is HARAM (forbidden), even if there may be some seemingly good or harmless elements in those practises, as evidenced by a statement from the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) "Every innovation (in our religion) is misguidance, even if the people regard it as something good" (ad-Daarimee.). Although it may be argued that the celebration of Halloween today has nothing to do with devil-worship, it is still forbidden for Muslims to participate in it.

[woofer]

Would they really poison candy for kids?

The spawn of the American Satans? They would stoop to that level, and even lower, to further their agenda.

I hope this makes it onto the front page of every newspaper. The cry to rid this country of the islamic beasts will be louder than the boo-ing of Osama bin Hillary at last night's concert in New York.

[SamAdams76]

Poison the candy and quietly redistribute it back into the stores. Security is mostly interested in what you're taking out, not bringing in.

Unfortunately you may be on to something. In supermarkets, people are always putting merchandise back on shelves. It's not an unusual thing at all. Sometimes my kids will throw a bag of candy into the cart hoping I don't notice and I'll toss it back on the shelf. If just one or two bags of tainted Halloween candy were put on shelves of supermarkets randomly across America, it could cause panic on the scale of the current anthrax scare.

It's nothing to panic over but certainly something to be concerned about. Inspect the packaging of the candy you buy (or that your kids take home) to ensure that it has not been tampered with. That's about the best you can do.

[bannie]

1970's Tylenol.

Murdering pigs

[bannie]

"But, Isn't this part of the terrorists plan. To disrupt our lifes."

I agree that we need to proceed as normally as possible....this IS, however, WAR.

Things are different. We would be stupid to act as though they aren't.

We United States Citizens are not stupid! (Well, we conservatives aren't)

;-)

[cajungirl]

I do hope snickers bars weren't involved. This is bizarre. Everyone is buying lots of candy. He must have bought a cart load. Maybe it was for a party.

[HEFFERNAN2]

Exactly. Have a Halloween party at your house. Invite the children's friends and make your own candy and treats. When I was growing up that's what we did. Semper Fi, Mike