Police seek van with suspicious cargo

The Boston Globe ^ | 11/3/2001 | By Jenny Jiang and Fran Riley, Globe Correspondents

[be-baw]

After days of preparing for vague threats, police departments across the state last night had a tangible menace to chase: A rented van with a cargo of possible bomb-making materials was stopped at a Cambridge mall and sped away before police arrived.

[George from New England]

The license plate number HAS been posted on an earlier thread.

[NYCpatriot]

Yeah, probably on its way to NYC....marathon tomorrow....30,000 people crossing the Verrazano Bridge (longest suspension bridge in US) at the start of the race.

[TXnMA]

What size "Ryder rental van" was it?

Ryder's current "consumer rental" ("Yellow") fleet consists consists of a very limited set of (3) truck/van sizes:

       

Notice that they no longer offer the infamous 20-foot model the McVeigh supposedly used in OKC. I recently drove a Ryder 24-foot from MA to TX; you'd have to be a pretty good driver to maneuver that beast around in a parking garage -- if you could even get it in the entrance...

Also note that the article mentions "blacked out windows". None of the Ryder "Yellow fleet" trucks has windows in the cargo compartment. Could it have been a passenger van from the Ryder LTS ("White") commercial leasing fleet? If so, I would expect their lease records to be rather thorough.

BTW, wonder if the driver had a VA driver's license...

Does anyone know what color and size the "Ryder Rental van" was? That would narrow the search considerably...

[dhfnc]

That would be horrible
Has there been any local news there about this? How does the government expect us to be on alert, if they don't tell us what we are looking for?

[TheOtherOne]

This article is also on the wire.

USA: UPDATE 1-"False alarm" over rental trucks near Washington.

10/07/2001
Reuters English News Service
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.

(Recasts with false alarm, previous WASHINGTON

ROCKVILLE, Md., Oct 7 (Reuters) - Authorities said two rented trucks that were stopped on Sunday while heading toward Washington on a major interstate highway in Maryland did not contain explosives and the incident was called a "false alarm."

Interstate 270 was closed for about an hour while a bomb-sniffing dog checked out the contents of two Ryder rental trucks, said Cpl. Rob Moroney of the Maryland State Police Office of Public Affairs.

No explosives were found and it turned out the drivers had been hauling stage and sound equipment used earlier in the day during a memorial for fallen firefighters attended by President George W. Bush in Emmitsburg, Maryland, north of Washington, Moroney added.

"We were erring more on the side of caution just in case," Moroney said. "Obviously, the officers and troopers did not want to rush over and pop the door open and have it booby-trapped and blow up."

Sgt. Randy Roberts of the Maryland State Police , added: "There's nothing to it. There were no explosives found - a false alarm."

Both trucks were driven by Hispanic men who did not speak English, Moroney said. Suspicions were raised since state police officers initially could not understand what the drivers were saying about the contents of the trucks, he added.

The trucks were stopped in the late afternoon near Rockville, about 15 miles (24 km) outside of Washington.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks by hijackers that leveled the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and damaged the Pentagon outside Washington, many U.S. law enforcement officials have taken extra security precautions.

Sunday's military strikes by the United States and Britain against targets in Afghanistan increased security concerns.

[TRY ONE]

First things first...did the truck have a safety sticker?....was the driver smoking?.....did the driver have an open can of beer in the truck?....

[wndycndy]

Last night they were described here in the other thread as having olive colored skin.

P.o.ed in NH.

[LivFREEordie]

Very little local news - I'm frustrated! Stayed up way too late following this and we're headed to NYC today for market.

[LivFREEordie]

No description last night - the "olive skin" was the story from The Herald about the missing fertilizer from Whitman, MA last week.

[NYCpatriot]

Get used to it. Sooo much does not make the news here in NYC. I went to school in NH (cool screenname btw!), if someone sneezes there, it makes the news. Here, a double homicide barely gets mentioned on the local "bodybag" news at 11.

[mostlyundecided]

Last I heard on a 700+ post thread last night, from scanner reports, the truck had hit a couple cars the driver ran on foot and was caught and the police called in a bombsquad and k9 unit. 156 Prince St. in Boston. The officer, when asked by dispatch to open the back of the truck said no, dispatch had him switch to channel 2 and since no access to channel 2 that is all they have. here is a link to the thread...link

The action starts at post 657.

[LivFREEordie]

Yeah and NOTHING on the Saturday a.m. news - anyone else feel like a mushroom in these here parts?

[ClearasaBell]

I agree, and furthermore.....there needs to be a nationwide apb via the news..the media focuses on one issue and drills it for weeks at a time ...very misleading and wrong as this effects our lives directly...We need to speak out ..get the illegals out of our country ...they can stop citizens at DUI checks at any other time, why cant they do something like that now,why let another student in this country now from that region...this is not a race issue if we turn it into that we would be wrong as americans , it is a legal issue of citizenship. We have a right to know of the risk we are in and a right to be protected by our government

[fnord]

Story seems to have disappeared from the national wires, hmmm. If this is as it appears, shouldn't everybody be on the lookout for this truck? And do they think that this is just an "isolated case", and there are not other suspects in other trucks around the country?

[wndycndy]

The men were described as having olive skin in a post @ 10:00 last night. I was just passing on what had been posted here early on. And there is no reason to try slamming me because I live in NH. We have one of the best states in the country and don't forget--we voted overwhelmingly for PRESIDENT Bush. Who does your state vote for NYC Patriot? LOL.

BTW, My sources are FoxNews and Free Republic. Get a life.

[aristeides]

156 Prince St. is right next to the Charlestown Bridge, and also close to the Coast Guard station and the tunnels to East Boston. I suspect the tunnels are targets. The bombers of the WTC in '93 were interested in the tunnels in NYC. Although, if the terrorists want to attack a symbol, there's the USS Constitution on the Charlestown side of the bridge.

[Gadsden1st]

The above article refers to two trucks. Sounds like a different incident to me. Let me understand this. The terrorist have to use a rental trunk because they were used before. It is impossible to buy an old truck and pack it with explosives. They live here for years, attempt to buy crop dusters, but are too stupid to buy trucks. We won't see the next one comming.

[LivFREEordie]

A little grumpy this am are we? No slam intended. I LOVE NH - thank God everyday for getting me here!

[b4its2late]

The Boston Globe has a policy of never revealing the race or nationality of suspects so as not to offend its reader's liberal sensiblities.

A bunch of pukes they are!

[CindyDawg]

Don't you know these 2 drivers have a story to tell!