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.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Most of the areas mentioned do not have cameras. Your suggestion to have them in all public places is as repugnant to me as the terrorist are. Then again I'm just a conservative who doesn't believe in some government geek being able to track my every move.

[Betty Jane]

Here's how this dry run test could work and provide information to a terrorist. He places his suitcase down and leaves.

He grabs a newspaper or smokes a cigarette and goes back after 10-15 minutes. If the bag is still there, he has found a potential target. If it's gone or otherwise discovered, he knows this spot is no good.

He now has a list of good spots and times to leave his package. The thing nobody else would know is how many places he found secure. That is what is scary.

[spokeshave]

"Did you here about the incident a few months ago where 1 gallon water bottles were placed through out a couple subway systems in a strange way? "

Its OK..just the usual suspects (liberal do-gooders) placing urinals for illigals

[lainde]

Thanks for the "Test Run" article...Very enlightening.

[hellinahandcart]

Rod holders aren't expensive nor so outlandish that I am gonna freak out.

I don't care if they cost fifty cents apiece. It is not a pleasure craft.

Not sure I would have ended a career over it, but they did.

No, they didn't. Did you bother to read the article? It wasn't about outfitting the boat for fishing. It wasn't about the money spent building a dock for the boat. It was the supervisor's "personal use" of the boat, which was supposedly NOT for fishing, and they won't say what it was (but if some cops were caught misbehaving, the lurid details would be on TV, along with their names and faces) . And he was not FIRED, he retired with full bennies.

I am very pro-law enforcement.

The Port Authority encompasses a lot more than law enforcement. I don't feel any obligation to give a corrupt maintenance supervisor the same respect I would give to a policeman.

[HairOfTheDog]

OK - I know all that now, and your feelings about what it means... Thanks for taking the time to explain what it was about.

[steve86]

I gotta think any nuclear plant, like Indian Point, would not be so vulnerable that a truck driving into the front door would cause any real damage.

I live within 10 miles of a commercial nuke plant. Before 9/11, I used to take my box van out of storage every couple of weeks and drive it out to the plant and back to charge the batteries. I no longer drive it in that direction because I know they would stop it and search it (don't need the hassle). They ARE keeping an eye out for threats.

Like you say, even if a truck like mine barreled into the plant there would be no real threat to the reactor itself (enclosed in concrete containment dome). Conceivably some damage could be done externally: i.e. to the cooling towers or electrical substation (and that would take A LOT of explosives). But the plant would shut down automatically and no radiation would be released. At the most, it would be similar to an everyday industrial accident and would keep the plant shut down for a year or two for repair and testing. The damage would be mostly economic.

The only thing I wonder about is those plants that keep "spent" fuel rods in outside cooling ponds. I suppose there would be a possibility of radiation dispersal if explosives were detonated thee.

[Vinomori]

How do you time the response? You can't know when they really found out and what got reported to whom when. You can't know or "time" that. So I say pranksters. If Columbine can happen, this can happen.

[Recon by Fire]

Maybe Kerry took the truck to fuel all the SUVs his family owns.

[MindBender26]

Any weapon can be used by these Islamic terrorists at any time. That's why we must fight the battle on their ground, not ours.

[Antoninus]

The idea of a huge terrorist attack in NYC during the Republican National Convention is the stuff of Al-Qaidist wet dreams...

[anniegetyourgun]

Regardless of your speculation on this situation, prayers that any weapon the enemy would fashion would fail are critical. Would you take a minute to agree with me in that prayer?

[jerseygirl]

Yes. The bottles were placed in the Philly subways 2 consecutive nights in a row last summer. They were written off as a "hoax".

[XHogPilot]

Is it possible the fuel truck is not for ramming, but for pumping fuel over fertilizer hidden in trucks?

[NYC GOP Chick]

I wonder if this explains the increased NYPD presence that I've been seeing in Penn Station and various subway stations this weekend...

[P.O.E.]

Wasn't there a bit of street "art" a year or so back that involved large suitcases/trunks abandoned in the subway?

Let's not forget such anarchist chic of not so long ago, such as that promulgated by the likes of Abbe Hoffman and Jerry Rubin

[Quix]

SURE!

THANKS.

AMEN!

[GEC]

Cost-effective right up until the point where the terrorists find out where they are all placed and disable them minutes after stealing or hijacking the vehicles.

I'm still in favor of doing it, but it won't be fail-safe.

[Hot Tabasco]

I don't understand the significance of the empty suitcases. How do these test response time?

They don't, it was a prank. The real test would have been same suitcases filled and subsequently detonated with no real concern as to the amount of destruction they may have caused since any destruction at all would have caused national mayhem......

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Any weapon can be used by these Islamic terrorists at any time. That's why we must fight the battle on their ground, not ours.

You need to post your statement as it's own thread in Breaking News, my friend.

Mindbender26, is this the only city this has occurred in?