5 Empty Suitcases Found In NYC In 5 Different Locations/Also Missing Fuel Tanker Truck

FOX NEWS | 5-2-04 | my favorite headache

[My Favorite Headache]

I have waited and looked around and did not see this posted. NYPD and the FBI have found 5 empty identical suitcases in 5 different locations around NYC. Subway station, Penn Station, 2 government buildings and a sidewalk.

Also missing is a huge fuel tanker truck out of New Jersey that has vanished and was full.

This story was mentioned in the last hour...anyone catch it? The Fed's are thinking this might be a test run for terrorists to see what the response time would be to suitcases being left and found in a location ala Spain attacks. They also fear the gas tanker might be used to ram a building with explosives and level it.

[jimbo123]

This one works:

FBI: 9/11 hijackers cased airports, took test runs

[CyberAnt]

Yeah, I caught it - and I'm screaming at FOX for saying over the air that the unusual thing about the suitcases was - THEY WERE EMPTY - and .. if they had contained some personal items or clothing, it wouldn't have looked so supicious.

Now isn't that a brilliant thing to tell the terrorists. Just put a few personal items in the suitcases, and we won't think it's anything unusual.

Good grief. But .. I have noticed that since I sent them my large, snarling red-faced graphic, and bold typed message about it - it has not been mentioned again.

[HairOfTheDog]

Why, because everyone in NYC is now looking for suitcases on trains, and they might not have yesterday? All I am saying is that this "test" as you believe it might be has hurt them more than it might have helped.

There is no point in a dry run. If they want to know if they can walk on a train with a suitcase, and walk off without it, I think anyone would be able to answer that without a test. All the knee-jerk solutions suggested here don't make that risk go away.

There are smart people on our side working the problem. But there are smart people on the other side too.

[mindspy]

Where are the cameras and facial recognition devices. One would think we would have cameras in such high profile places. One would think the entire scenario from bags being left to police removing them would have been caught on camera. Oh, I forgot about the libs whining of invasion of privacy in PUBLIC places.

[cmsgop]

I thought that too, I hope they are doing just that.

[HairOfTheDog]

I know.... I should just go home.

Oh wait. I am home.

[jimbo123]

From USA Today:

But FBI agents have zeroed in on about a dozen flights last year in which they suspect the hijacking ringleaders took test runs, the officials said.

In nearly all the suspected trial flights, the future hijackers used their real names to book flights.

Some of the suspected test flights followed the same coast-to-coast routes as the four planes hijacked on Sept. 11, but not the same flight numbers or airlines, officials said. Most were aboard American Airlines or United Airlines jets, the officials said.

One pilot interviewed by the FBI, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said agents told him the hijackers "did dry runs. at least the pilots went on board airplanes and took notes and watched movements of crews to see what the procedures were," the pilot said.

At least one witness at Boston Logan airport has reported to the FBI seeing a man resembling Atta taking notes at the terminal gate where American Airlines Flight 11 took off a couple of days before Sept. 11 taking notes

"This man had no luggage, no briefcase — all he had was a folder," Jan Shineman, of Sudbury, Mass., said in an interview last fall. "By the time I got to the gate, I thought he was casing the flight. I thought he was observing it for a reason."

[7.62 x 51mm]

I'm not a trucker, but I'm now loading 20-rnd mags for my AR-10 (.308cal), 40-rnd mags for my Class III (silencer) AR-15, and 5-rnd mags for my new AR-50 BMG. My CCW carry pieces Kimber Eclipse Target II 1911A1 .45cal ACP and Glock G32/.357SIG are always loaded and ready. But somehow I get the unhappy feeling I won't get in on the action; that it'll happen so quietly and quickly, we won't get a *target of opportunity*. More's the pity...

[HairOfTheDog]

This one works:

FBI: 9/11 hijackers cased airports, took test runs

Do I have to spell out the difference here?

[mindspy]

Perhaps they don't intend on using suitcases for their real plan. Everyone will be looking for suitcases when it will really be in something else or on someone else.

[Capt. Tom]

Five out of how many found. -Tom

Hey what's this. Looks like someone forgot their suitcase. Hmmn Nothing inside and no Id. I think I'll take it home I can use it.

[jimbo123]

So you don't think the Madrid bombers did any dry runs?

[7.62 x 51mm]

"... a passenger ..."

Hmmmm, no mention of nationality?

Achmed, is that you and Usama playing games again?

[HairOfTheDog]

Or perhaps mischief was the goal here. Who the hell knows? I am just responding to a few knee jerk responses with the first obvious questions that need asked.

[FourPeas]

I agree with your analysis re: the dry run. Perhaps they didn't think five suitcases would be considered suspicious, otherwise, you're correct the test makes the results useless.

[jimbo123]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/14/1079199095436.html?from=storyrhs

Complex plan that required practice (Madrid)

March 15, 2004

To acquire explosives, select targets, conduct dry runs and deliver the bombs is astonishing, Sean Rayment reports from London.

In many ways, the Madrid train bombings would have required a higher degree of planning and a more sophisticated terrorist network than that of the September 11 attacks in 2001, according to intelligence officers at Britain's MI5.

To plant 13 complex remote-controlled bombs on three trains at the height of rush hour in a European capital, without alerting any of the West's numerous intelligence agencies, is astonishing.

Collectively, NATO, and the US in particular, spend billions on counter-terrorism. Listening stations eavesdrop on millions of conversations every week. A high degree of mobile phone "chatter" between suspected terrorists has often been the precursor to an attack. This time there was no "chatter" and no warning.

For the urban terrorist to succeed, extreme security is essential. Most terrorist groups now adopt the "cellular" system perfected by the Provisional IRA in the 1990s.

At that time, active service units - teams of terrorists composed of four men and women - were given exceptional operational autonomy, with only the leaders in communication with the organisation's heads. No member of a unit knew the identity of other teams, which always ensured some security if a member was captured.

The units chose their own targets, times of attack and means, providing it fitted in with the overall Provisional IRA philosophy. The tactics were deadly and highly successful.

For the Spanish bombers to achieve their mission, targets would have been selected through a process involving weeks of study, reconnaissance and rehearsals. Many targets would have been deemed unsuitable because, for example, casualty rates would not be high enough or the likelihood of capture before or after the attack would be too high.


It is likely that several "dry runs" to iron out any logistical problems were carried out by the teams before Thursday's attacks.

It is likely that several "dry runs" to iron out any logistical problems were carried out by the teams.

Each bomber would have required at least two "watchers" to make sure he could deliver his or her bomb to the right destination at the right time without being spotted by security officials. Once delivered, the bombing team would need to be extracted to a safe house where they could stay before leaving the country.

Making remote-controlled bombs is complex and dangerous. And obtaining high explosives in a country that has been waging a war against ETA for more than 30 years would have been extremely difficult. Once built, these devices would need to have been tested to determine what factors might inhibit detonation, such as distance, radio interference and even the weather. Only when the terrorists believed that they could virtually guarantee success would the operation have been launched.

All of this would have been achieved without the knowledge of the Spanish security services, the CGI and the CNI, Interpol, MI6, MI5, the FBI and the CIA and other intelligence agencies that monitor suspects, bank accounts and trade routes.

[mindspy]

Oh I know. I was too. That is what we all need to do. Stay safe.

[oceanview]

as someone who uses Penn Station from time to time - I can honestly tell you that the biggest problem with all of this is the apathy of law enforcement as well as the civil service unions running the mass transit system. Case in point - the Port Authority of NY/NJ recently spent alot of money to purchase a 27 foot boat to use for policing and surveillance, it was recently found to have been outfitted with fishing gear for by the the PA workers. This kind of sentiment is what we face across the board.

To be honest, NYC should be in a CODE RED state all the time. Its the only way to get the various agencies to stop handing out traffic and tickets for handheld cellphone, and get them to pay attention to these counter-terror operations.

[Flipyaforreal]

"you'd have to be an idiot, severely incapacitated, or Kirstie Alley"

Ouch! LOL!!

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh I know. I was too. That is what we all need to do. Stay safe.

I think it is a fun excercise to think through, and thinking things through makes us all more aware of what's going on. It gets exasperating for me talking to people who are sitting at their computers at home and actually think they have the whole thing figured out.

I am not a detective, I just play one on the internet.