Large candy purchases investigated by FBI

Bergen NJ Record ^ | October 20, 2001 | MITCHEL MADDUX and PETER POCHNA

[spycatcher]

The FBI said Friday that it is investigating the cash purchase of "large quantities" of candy from Costco stores in Hackensack and Wayne.

"We have been advised and we are looking into the incident of a gentleman buying large quantities of candy," said Sandra Carroll, an FBI spokeswoman in Newark.

Carroll declined to identify the purchaser, but indicated that he is in federal custody for immigration law reasons not related to the purchase of the candy.

"I cannot comment on INS detainees," Carroll said.

Carroll said it would be premature to draw conclusions about the purchaser's intent for the candy, which agents had not found by Friday night. She declined to describe the candy.

"We have no evidence or information for us to suspect there is any reason to cancel scheduled events," Carroll said when asked if the FBI had concerns about the safety of Halloween. "However, the public is encouraged to remain alert but calm."

Hackensack police took a report from Costco about the candy purchase at the Hackensack store at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday. The police then contacted the FBI.

"They told us to stay out of it," said Hackensack Police Chief Charles "Ken" Zisa.

Zisa said the FBI had already learned about the purchase. A local Costco manager had reported the incident to corporate headquarters, near Seattle, and had sent a videotape from a store security camera, Zisa said.

An official at Costco's corporate headquarters said Friday night that no one was available to comment on the matter. Another Costco official, who declined to be identified, said such large purchases from the chain of wholesale grocery and household goods stores are not uncommon.

Kerry Gill, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Newark, said he could not discuss the case because of confidentiality policies.

[MHGinTN]

As per your post #10, do you suppose binLaden sent an obvious signal to his sleepers to anthrax the American kiddies? What was Bert doing in those photos seen on some Isalmaicist supporter's street posters?

[outpost44]

It was probably just a couple of guys from the American Association of Dentists trying to drum up future work...

[I'm ALL Right!]

ping!

[danzaroni]

Carroll said it would be premature to draw conclusions about the purchaser's intent for the candy

In other words, a premature conjecturelator.

[danzaroni]

Carroll said it would be premature to draw conclusions about the purchaser's intent for the candy

In other words, a premature conjecturelator.

[Tribune7]

That's strange. Where was the Sam's located?

I think it was in New Jersey, too. This was discussed on a Philadelphia talk station (Dom Giordano's program I think) I only caught the tail end.

[gusopol3]

link This is the one that bothers me; hopefully men with certain physical characteristics videorecording buildings will gain first hand knowledge of vigilantism. Had you seen it?

[Liberty Teeth]

Don't look at me....urppp!

[1 FELLOW FREEPER]

I thought this was Bill Clinton's schtick........"Candy little girl??"

[freekitty]

I do believe $35,000 is a lot of candy. Kind of think this is worth investigating.

[Dan Day]

2 Arabic guys bought more than $35,000.00 dollars worth of candy, in Wayne $15,000.00 & in Hackensack $20,0000.00. After they left they found out their Costco i.d was fake

Pardon me while I whip this out... (my calculator, that is)

$35,000 of candy? Let's say that they were buying full sized candy bars, at a good bulk-purchase price of twenty-five cents each. That would be 140,000 candy bars. Do Costco stores even stock that many?

A full-sized Snickers bar weighs about 2 ounces. So 140,000 of them would weigh 140,000 * 2 / 16 = 17,500 pounds.

Yup, they'd need a semi to haul that away (not to mention at least 3 or 4 forklift loads just to get them to the check-out stand -- a big-ass electric Namco forklift can carry 4-5000 pounds).

[Don Joe]

"The store had the health dept. check out the candy, they couldn't find any noticeable problems, so they put the candy back on the shelf."

Brilliant.

I suppose the tested every piece of candy for every possible contaminant?

Good grief people, we are at war! The enemy is buying large quantities of candy before halloween, and then returning it?

I am advising everyone I know to not buy any candy for halloween, and not allow their children to accept any, even if "it's from someone we know", since the contamination can occur at the retail level.

When are we going to wake up?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[MissAmericanPie]

I am just glad my kid doesn't like candy at this point.

[Riley]

No I hadn't, but thanks for pointing that out. Where I am from, we have a saying: Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. I had an idea-I posted the following to that thread:

Actually, in the situation the author describes in the article, making eye contact with the guys videotaping the cathedral and making a big show out of digging out a cell phone and appearing to make a call might force them to reveal themselves. If they're legit, they'll probably just look back with disgust. If they are baddies, they'll quickly move on. Then, speed dial whomever you deem appropriate, and give them all of the exact details that you made a point to memorize about the suspicious characters.

Whipping out a pocket pad and a pen and ostentatiously taking notes at the same time might add to the effect. Two can play at mind games.

Others have suggested a disposable or a digital camera. If you really think after a couple of serious reality self-checks that you might be seeing a terrorist reconnaisance, then accurate, succinct notes accompanied bu a couple of good clear snapshots might be very useful in the right hands.

[VA Advogado]

That's snopes.com who investigates and attempts to debunk Net "rumors"

Always wondered, what if SNOPES turned out to be just another urban legend? :)

[VA Advogado]

The arrogance of the FBI lately is beginning to show, this is like the third or fourth story related to these events where the FBI has told the local LEO's to go to hell...

And who do you think is going to get roasted if they (the FBI) had this information and didnt act on it? It's not going to be Sheriff Podunk.

[VA Advogado]

What was Bert doing in those photos seen on some Isalmaicist supporter's street posters?

Interesting point. Very good.

[R_Kangel]

When I was a child I remember one Saturday morning my father and I went out to feed our chickens and gather some eggs for the customary family weekend breakfast. I figure that we must have had at least 20-30 of them (chickens). "They sure are quiet this morning" my dad mumbled to himself with a very visibly concerned frown on his face. As we neared the coop there was kind of a foul odor hanging in the still morning air. He slowly opened the coop door. "Stay outside!" he barked as he stepped inside. There was a lot of yelling of some very angry words that I was not used to hearing comming from my fathers mouth. I ran inside to find out what was wrong. What I saw inside was not very pretty. It was very obvious that our much anticipated Saturday morning breakfast would have to wait. Suddenly I did not have an appetite any more because inside I gazed upon all of our chickens strewn about, ravaged and bloody....motionless and very very dead. "Foxes" my dad repeated over and over... "Damn foxes." I am starting to experience the same sickening feeling in the pit of my stomache. Just as I did so many years ago. Only this time I seem to feel much like those poor chickens that went to rest one evening and never lived another day again. Only this time on a much much larger scale. I try pinching myself in hopes of waking myself up from this bad dream about some terrorist foxes running loose inside the only home that we have. This home that we call America,the land of the free. These foxes are here dwelling inside our country waiting to shed the blood of the innocents.

[Alma 2616]

That is a very apt and timely story.

Our weaknesses stem from our dependence upon a very fragile system. Soon it will be too late to prepare, to store against a time when you cannot trust the food and the water from your usual sources. At a time like that people will hoard even useless things, and neighbors will not trust one another, but those of us who have been prepared all along by storing food and water--not just during a time of deepening crisis, but all along--will be able to feed our children. Halloween candy joins mail as a casualty of uncertainty. Wo unto America for nursing so long at the free but faltering breast of government subsidies. Pretty soon now we'll discover what things really cost retail, when demand so far outstrips supply that men will sell their own children to feed their once amply-supplied bellies.

Alma 26:16 Verse of the Day Helaman 9:35
*CC

[SC DOC]

It is theoretically possible to start a smallpox epidemic in the manner you have described. We did it to the native American Indians in blankets.