Huntington – The FBI has joined an investigation into the theft of electronic equipment after break-ins at several transmitting towers in Charleston. According to a Huntington TV station, ten break-ins at three separate sites (Garfield, North Charleston, North Gate Business Park) resulted in the loss of a radio receiver/transmitter (repeater) and frequency counter.
Charleston police asked the FBI to enter the investigation after they learned the stolen equipment could possibly be used to jam emergency frequencies. Thieves took only the specified equipment leaving other items untouched. Anyone with information about the break-ins should call (304) 348-6480.
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080124-rutherford-localequipmentstolen.html
Undercover Op Leads To Cell Phone-Triggered Bomb
Improvised Explosive Device Offered For Sale To Undercover Officers
January 23, 2008
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose and Santa Clara police chiefs announced Wednesday the results of a massive sting operation in their cities. Operation Meltdown, as the joint effort was called, netted investigators hundreds of criminals, tons of stolen copper, dozens of stolen cars and weapons, and in one case, homemade bombs.
A Fremont man was arrested in October as part of Operation Meltdown. He is accused of trying to sell the officers improvised explosive devices capable of being denoted remotely by a cell phone. During a news conference at San Jose Police headquarters Wednesday morning, police showed a video, recorded by hidden camera, of the suspect demonstrating the technology to officers by detonating a bomb for them.
(at Link)VIDEO: Raw Video Of Copper Wire Bust | VIDEO: Copper Investigation Leads To Dozens Of Arrests | SLIDESHOW: View Images
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http://www.nbc11.com/news/15120478/detail.html?rss=bay&psp=news
Stowaways Found at Dulles International Airport
Jan. 24, 2008
Law enforcement sources told ABC News of a security breach that raises major questions about the ability of foreign governments to secure airplanes.
Two Ethiopian maintenance workers apparently stowed away in the ceiling of a trans-Atlantic flight that landed at Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, D.C., at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
The 17-hour flight was an Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, with a stopover in Rome. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Lynn Hollinger, Ethiopian Airlines officials contacted CBP at about 9 a.m. Wednesday, reporting that the two stowaways claimed to have made the journey while hiding in an overhead luggage compartment.
The compartment was located above the ceiling of the kitchen galley, out of sight of passengers. Hollinger said the two men were both wearing Ethiopian Airlines uniforms, including identification badges. A contract security guard discovered them after the passengers disembarked.
The stowaways were taken by ground crews to a CBP inspection area at the airport, where they were interviewed by customs agents. They are seeking asylum and are currently in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. The discovery of the stowaways has security officials asking if people can stow away on a plane, how easy would it be to place a bomb on a plane.
Khost, Afghanistan - A would-be suicide bomber fell down a flight of stairs and blew himself up as he headed out for an attack in Afghanistan, police say.
It was the second such incident in two days, with another man killing himself and three others on Tuesday when his bomb-filled waistcoat exploded as he was putting it on in the southern town of Lashkar Gah.
Yesterday's blast was in a busy market area of the eastern town of Khost, a deputy provincial police chief said. The would-be attacker tripped as he was leaving a building apparently to target an opening ceremony for a mosque that was expected to be attended by Afghan and international military officials, said Sakhi Mir. "Coming down the stairs, he fell down and exploded. Two civilian women and a man were wounded,'' Mir said.
Suicide attacks are regular feature of an insurgency led by the extremist Taliban movement that was in government between 1996 and 2001. The most deadly was in November 2007 and killed nearly 80 people, most of them school students.
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23101330-5005940,00.html
Wonderful (sarc) - they knew exactly what they were going after!!!
Dozens get vaccinated after hepatitis news at Bakersfield eatery
The health department says the sick person worked at the Chuy's Mesquite Broiler on Rosedale Highway and was potentially infectious from Jan. 4 through Jan. 10. The clinic briefly ran out of supplies on Saturday after giving out 90 vaccine shots.
Hepatitis C top illness to sicken Missouri county
The health department reports that a total of 77 people had contracted the deadly liver disease during 2007, up from 52 confirmed cases in 2006.
Michigan suspects new bovine TB case in deer
A case of bovine tuberculosis may have turned up well outside the part of Michigan where the disease previously has been concentrated. State officials say a deer recently killed in Shiawassee County is suspected of carrying bovine TB. They are awaiting final test results. A hunter killed the deer more than 100 miles south of the TB Zone in Michigan's northern Lower Peninsula, where authorities have tried to contain the outbreak since the late 1990s.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture plans to schedule cattle herds for testing within a 10-mile radius of where the deer was taken. Meanwhile, the state has declared two sections of Iosco County as "potential high-risk areas" after bovine TB was confirmed in a couple of deer there.
http://www.sptimes.com/2008/01/13/Hillsborough/Tip_leads_to_arrests_.shtml
“Tip leads to arrests, recovery of goods”
By RODNEY THRASH, Times Staff Writer
Published January 13, 2008
TAMPA -
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Two suspects told the tipster they had stolen a trailer last month from a Days Inn on N Dale Mabry Highway, police said. They wanted him to take the contents of the trailer - 42 boxes of cell phone repeaters valued at $187,000 - to a junk yard. Instead, the man led police to the Regency Palms Apartments, 4123 E Linebaugh Ave.
Inside unit No. 904, officers said they found the boxes of repeaters, which enhance cell phone reception in buildings where the quality is poor. Tampa police also recovered three guns, $7,600 in counterfeit cash and one vehicle.
Two men, Hector Felician-Pizzaro and Lazaro Raul Fernandez, were in police custody Saturday.”