Posted on 05/20/2004 11:32:31 PM PDT by trifona
May 20, 2004 -- The Big Story on Action News is word of suspicious activity along train tracks in our area, and the discovery of a wireless transmitter that seemed to be carefully hidden in the gravel under some tracks in Philadelphia.
Needless to say, this has attracted some peoples' attention. While authorities do not want to unnecessarily scare commuters, they say that after terrorist train attacks in Madrid Spain, they are taking all suspicious activity on rail lines seriously. Of most concern is the discovery of that wireless transmitter on a SEPTA rail line.
Action News has learned that last week SEPTA police recovered an infrared sensor that was carefully concealed along SEPTA's track bed near 34th and Powelton. The device, a commercially available wireless infrared transmitter made for home security use was discovered spray-painted black and tucked neatly in the trackside ballast. Such devices transmit a signal when something cuts across their infrared beam. And while there is no indication of any specific threat, investigators are concerned because the sensor has the potential to be used as a triggering device. The FBI is now investigating the discovery.
Jerri Williams/FBI SPOKESPERSON:
"We don't know why its there, what the purpose was and that's why we're investigating . At this time, we have no reason to believe there's a nexus to terrorism but of course we wanna be careful, we want to protect the public, and so we're investigating." Meanwhile, the New Jersey attorney general's office is investigating at least 7 instances in the last week of suspicious surveillance activity along Amtrak and New Jersey Transit commuter rail lines between Philadelphia, Trenton and New York." Peter Harvey/N.J. ATTORNEY GENERAL:
"The activities ranges from persons walking under a train trestle and filming it to persons trying to enter parking garages adjacent to train rail tracks or train stations filming those parking garages as well as filming the rail stations themselves." According to ABC News, the separate incidents in addition to other activity along rail lines between New York, Philadelphia and Washington has triggered concern among federal authorities in Washington prompting a massive counter surveillance operation. By coincidence these developments come as the Department of Homeland Security announced a series of new mandatory security measures on rail lines including the use of canine explosive teams to screen passenger baggage, terminals and trains. Meanwhile, you may remember a year ago when Action News told you about one man Hany Hasanin. Tapes obtained by Action News show Hany appearing to embark on a mission to make a roadmap of the Delaware Valley taking pictures of a public water supply and a PECO power station. He was arrested by Amtrak police taking pictures of 30th Street Station but he was deported back to Egypt before the FBI could questioned him. To this day, he has not been located.
Security is already being stepped up due to the presidential conventions in New York and Boston, and threats that an attack could be launched before the November election. Again, there is no specific threat to any local rail line, but officials are taking any possibility very seriously.
Dann Cuellar, Channel 6 Action News. Copyright 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Rail fans are going to be nervous from now on. It used to be the Soviet Union where photography was forbidden unless under the supervision of authorities.
Rail fans film video of parking garages and the underside of rail overpasses?
Given how stoopid the media is, I'd take any of their descriptions of this device with a big grain of salt. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a receiver, not a transmitter, given power requirements.
Egypt is the birth place for the FANATIC JIHADISTS. The Egyptian government is playing footsy with these militants. They ask them not to mess with the dictator, and in return, the dictator will leave them alone. They smuggle arm to the to murder Jews, their leader is the number two man in Al Qaida, they have the AL AZHAR university for teaching hate and propaganda, they have many unemployed well educated engineers who work for jihad organizations as terror scientists......
These tracks also go thru/pass many philly neighborhoods like in East Falls .. Kennsington . etc..
Duh. I was stuck on the garage door beam thing. Thanks.
The placing of the device may well be part of the terror, to get us worried and to remind us that these guys are here.
[pure speculation] Hmmm... 9/11 (NYC), 3/11 (Spain), 6/11??? [/pure speculation]
Maybe they should have just watched to see who replaces the batterie instead of alerting the media so that the bad guys just move on.
Interesting speculation. Who knows? You might be right. These folks sure love their "symbolism."
Somebody tell Willie Green!
I hope some industrious railroad employee doesn't get into hot water for rigging up a sensor device to help him with his job.
kill me first, I'm just a Republican.
A commuter train would be full in certain places on its normal while empty in others. Also, an external timer would likely miss the train because a difference of mere seconds would cause a miss. With an external device as a trigger that is in a location where a train is normally full, all a terrorist has to do is board a train with a bag of explosives, leave it and walk away.
A possible alternative explanation: Railroads in big cities often have problems with JDs messing around with the tracks, putting debris on them, etc. It could have been set up by the railroad to warn of something like that and then forgotten.
A transmitter could be anything from a garage door opener to a cell phone. The RECEIVER is what I would be worried about.
Not usually, but they might. Especially bridges, tunnels, overpasses, and the like. I would be suspicious of anyone filming around railroads these days. It used to be an innocuous hobby. I wouldn't be surprised if a good many are questioned these days.
By no means do I think the aforementioned Egyptian was a typical rail fan!
6/11??? YOU MAY BE ONTO SOMETHING.
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