FBI Detains 3 Trenton Men - 1 carried letters in Ziploc bag

New York Daily News ^ | November 4, 2001 | PAUL H.B. SHIN in New York and BOB PORT in Washington

[blam]

"I have always thought it was the Al-Qeada."

Yup. I agree.

[FR_addict]

The neighbor, who asked not to be identified, told The Associated Press he saw one of the men now in federal custody carrying a "Ziploc bag" with the letters. He said the man was holding it away from his body and "placed it real slow" onto the passenger seat of his car.

The neighbor said FBI agents questioned him hours after he called Trenton police. He said the agents already knew the suspect's name and where he lived, and they asked questions about his routine.

Good for the neighbor.

The FBI may have looked up the guy's name and address from the internet and didn't want to seem incompetent when they talked to the neighbor.

If it wasn't for this guy calling the police, these guys may have continued there dirty work. That's assuming it was an anthrax letter, but everything fits.

[TomGuy]

Now, I'm confused. Does one affix the postage stamp to the ziplock bag or to the envelope in the ziplock bag?

We need a postal regulation for this.

[angkor]

I think the leftistmainstreammedia were fed a bit of disinformation

I believe there's quite a bit of disinfo being pushed these days.

That's fine by me.

[FreePaul]

I frequently carry outgoing mail and other papers in a Ziploc bag, especially in wet weather. I guess I'll have to stop this terrorist practice.

[Alas Babylon!]

Is mailing a letter sufficient grounds for law enforcement to ask a middle eastern man if he is a citizen or on a visa?

Yes, especially if he's put it in a ziploc bag, holding it at arm's length, and carefully placing it on the seat of his car. Note how the FBI interviewed the witness who saw this BEFORE nabbing the suspect. If the neighbor was lying, I'm sure they'd figure that out in the interview. It must have been a creditable report, and the FBY followed up on evidence correctly. They then picked up the suspect. At that time they'd screen his vitals, and find out he was an illegal alien.

[feedback doctor]

I frequently carry outgoing mail and other papers in a Ziploc bag, especially in wet weather. I guess I'll have to stop this terrorist practice.

I am a letter carrier and I pick-up a lot of mail in ziplock bags, plastic wrap, and plastic newspaper bags when there is the threat of wet weather. I also see folks bring it wrapped in plastic to the P.O. during rainy days. What is suspicious is the fellows behavior, holding it away from his body, etc.

[gumbo]

This article says the neighbor who saw the man with the letters in the ziploc bag told his story to the AP. But I could find nothing on the AP about this incident except these few paragraphs...

...At least two apartments have been searched, the latest Friday, and three people detained in neighborhoods near the Trenton-area post office that is the only known source for the anthrax contamination.

The FBI maintains investigators have found no direct link between the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the anthrax poisonings and the apartment raids. But information that led agents there was developed during the massive search for who mailed the contaminated letters, authorities said.

Authorities would say little about the search or about a man taken into custody Friday. He was identified as Allah Rakha by his brother, Ilyas Chaudry.

Why the AP is sitting on the ziploc bag story? And why are they not pointing out links to the September 11 hijackers and Al Qaeda? In fact, the AP's middle paragraph seems to be an attempt to squelch the idea of a connection.

But the Trenton Times published an article on Halloween suggesting the FBI believes there's a link between the anthrax messengers and the Al Qaeda:

[FBI spokeswoman Sandra] Carroll said the individuals from the Greenwood Village Apartments were questioned in connection with ongoing investigative efforts.

Asked whether she was referring to the World Trade Center attacks or the anthrax probe, she responded: "The two are not necessarily separate at this point."

- FBI seizes property at Hamilton [NJ] apartment [anthrax/hijackers link], 10/31/01

My guess: the AP wants to keep blaming the "right wing."

[gumbo]

I have always thought it was the Al-Qeada

The FBI seems to think it's Al Qaeda too, at least according to Trenton Times article (link in post 38).

The known link between the 9/11 hijackers and these anthrax suspects is Mohammad Pervez, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Pakastani origin who shared an apartment in Jersey City with two suspected hijackers.

Pervez also shared an apartment in Trenton with some of the people questioned in these raids; and, he worked in both Trenton and Jersey City, selling newspapers in both train stations.

[gumbo]

Whoops, sorry, link to Trenton Times article is in post 28, not 38.

[Lion's Cub]

Having gone back and reread your link in #16 as well as INS holding 2 men seized at apartment (anthrax letters - HANDWRITING link?), I'm retracting part of my #20. The apartments are not in the same complex. The first was in Hamilton, and the post for this thread seems to be talking about the N. Olden Ave. apartment.

I do believe the two groups may be working together.

[Pharmboy]

Thanks for the replies. I had read about those guys yesterday and posted something to the extent that "how could these guys be sooo stupid as to not drive less than an hour to Philly in order to mail those letters?"

I got a few replies to that post reminding me of the WTC truck bomber who went back to Ryder to get his deposit back. I guess they can be that stupid.

[Marauder]

Are we still taking mail from all the little mailboxes scattered all over America? It would seem to me that the first thing we should have done was close those down and accept mail only from input locations that can be monitored by video, as are ATMs. That is the only way I can conceive to get control of this and to have any hope of catching these mutts.

That the USPS is spending millions to acquire the irradiation machines is gratifying, but will they also work on other contaminants like smallpox?

[OldFriend]

A special thank you to the good citizen who called to report suspicious behaviour.

[flamefront]

"no direct link" etc.

The FBI is more worried about public opinion than about nabbing the perpetrators.

All Clintonista need to be purged from govt.

[CathyRyan]

I think our leash is being jerked by a lot of OBL sympathizers to cover what he is really up to.

[MizSterious]

Bump!

[not-an-ostrich]

I'm confused. An news article posted on FR a day or so after Ms. Nyguen was hospitalized said the room she worked in had been recently remodeled and until then the mail had been opened in the same room. Since then we have been swamped by news media articles about how no one could figure out how she was infected. Tracing her steps, etc. Now the original quote by hospital personnel is showing up again. Sheesh!

[FreePaul]

What is suspicious is the fellows behavior, holding it away from his body, etc.

So I can still carry my mail in a Ziploc bag as long as I carry the bag in the "approved manner". Wonder where I can get the instructions for carrying a Ziploc bag.

[not-an-ostrich]

Again I'm confused. The Treasury Department is opening mail that looks like the anthrax letters already received? I read the FBI was hand examining all this mail after it came back from Ohio. How could they miss this letter?