ALERT! FBI looking for truck that passed through Colorado!

9 News Denver ^ | 2-14-03 | Chris Vanderveen

[RandallFlagg]

DENVER - Concern among members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorist Task Force has surfaced in Colorado. A semi-truck driving through the state on Thursday afternoon apparently triggered a nationwide alert going out to law enforcement agencies across the state Friday night.

Only a few specifics of the alert were released. Apparently, it stems from what happened at a Sinclair gas station in Byers around 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Byers is about 40 miles east of Denver on I-70.

Two men described as Middle Eastern in an 18-wheeler with a white tractor truck apparently tried to put unleaded gasoline into the truck. An attendant advised them it would not work and told them they needed to use diesel.

The men fueled up with the correct gas, paid in cash and left on Highway 36, which would connect them to I-80 in northeastern Colorado.

The truck has a Quebec, Canada, license plate number RS7-116. The name on the truck is Real Transport.

Authorities ran a check on the license plate and said it was clear, but it does not have a current registration.

The FBI sent out the alert shortly before 5 p.m. Friday. It advises law enforcement officers that if the semi is contacted to identify the occupants and determine if there is a current registration available.

If the FBI has any other reason to be worried about the semi, it's not saying.

There’s no confirmation that this is tied into any possible terrorism, but with the country on high alert, no one wants to take any chances.

[Erasmus]

If FReepers don't pick something apart and look at it from every conceivable angle before throwing out the waste and putting it back together in a recognizable form.....well...I quess they wouldn't be FReepers.;0)

But then, a few months later, the shag carpeting yields up that mysterious ball bearing.....

[Free Trapper]

Yep,then it's time to refigure. :o)

[Erasmus]

They call it that because when it comes loose,

DUCK!

[babaloo999]

Most tanks are 100 gallons each, some have 150 gallon tanks.
Figure between 5 and 7 MPG. I'm assuming this is a regular 'over the road' semi, too.
Any gas station I've ever been to naturally has separate fuel islands for cars and big trucks.
Did these guys just pull in to a gas station and try to fill it up like it's an SUV?
If so, then that in itself would garner a little attention.

[babaloo999]

How far were the trucks backed up on the highway?

[patton]

Roach foggers make excellent dispersion devices.

[jwalsh07]

If the FBI has any other reason to be worried about the semi, it's not saying.

I would say two middle eastern men driving a semi from Canada and attempting to put gasoline in a diesel engine would be more than enough cause to worry about.

If I lived in Colorado, I'd be worried enough to gather up the family and pass out the anti terrorist bug spray, lead.

[BluH2o]

The FBI sent out the alert shortly before 5 p.m. Friday.

OK ... this incident occurs on Thursday afternoon in Byers, CO ... the alert goes out a full 24 hours later. Two drivers could move this truck (unit) 1200 miles down the road in that interval ... and be legal, even if they were keeping a log ... which I'm sure they're not. This story is a little suspect ... not sure I'm buying into it.

[babaloo999]

The article only mentions the tractor/truck and nothing about a trailer. Did they drop the trailer
somewhere and they were headed back to Canada with just the truck? Going by the article, they would be heading back east.

[bert]

Not very far. The inspection point was a regular rolling weigh station. There were 3 or 4 police cars on both sides of the on ramp looking things over. There were several parked on a big lot behind the ramp. Most were containers.

[Unknowing]

A couple of problems with the drafting of this 9News article. First, there seems to be some ambiguity in the author's use of the word 'truck,' perhaps a lack of precision distinguishing 'tractor' from 'trailer.' Second, Highway 36 goes East, into Kansas, and not "to I-80 in northeastern Colorado," as the article states.

Not enough information to speculate like this, but why even assume that the ME's actually wanted to get (back) onto Highway 36? It may be that the ME men operating the vehicle entered Byers from the East, coming in along 36, and got back on 36 hoping to continue West after fueling. Note that 36 parallels I-70, and eventually connects with I-70 heading west into Denver just about at Byers. They may have been headed West into Denver all along, and getting back onto 36 was a mistake. Such a mistake may be common at such a junction.

From these assumptions follow the mere suspicion that the truck could have double-backed since Thursday, hence "aiming for" Denver, or Colorado Springs (new home of the Northern Command, NORAD, Air Force Academy). Therefore, maybe the search for this truck should not be limited by assumptions that the vehicle exited the state of Colorado.

[babaloo999]

I'm just wondering about them being able to pull up to a gas pump in a semi.
Usually, actually always, the fuel island for trucks has much more room to enable a tractor/trailer
to access it. No gasoline available at those pumps.
So I'm guessing they just pulled up to the regular gas pumps, the same ones the cars use.
Those will usually have a diesel pump on the side.
But the big truck pumps do not have gasoline available there, and the four wheelers better stay away,
unless there's no diesel available at the car pumps.
Oh, and reporters know as much about the big rigs as they do about industrial techniques and firearms.

[Unknowing]

OK, babaloo, your guess makes a lot of sense to me. As if the drivers were very much in need of fuel, it seems, and they stopped at a regular gas station that perhaps displayed a sign advertising "diesel" for automobiles. We'd have to see the Sinclair station to confirm this, though it seems to make sense. Add to this your appropriate attribution of ignorance to the author of the article regarding anything technical, and it allows us to consider the likelihood of the rig remaining integrated to be the more robust interpretation.

[xp38]

Just to clarify this is what a Quebec license plate looks like.

The number given in the article (RS7 116) with an R prefix from what I found on the net is issued for a trailer. A C prefix is issued for a tractor. This info is from some license plate websites and isn't 100% certain but I thought it would inform.

[dinodino]

I hope that the Feebs recovered the security camera tapes and checked them for pics of this truck.

[maestro]

Your#191).................Exactly!

:-(

[BluH2o]

The article only mentions the tractor/truck and nothing about a trailer. Did they drop the trailer somewhere ...

Not likely ... a tractor running without a trailer is called "bob-tailing" ... a team (two drivers) "bob-tailing" would attract law enforcement types very quickly ... especially out on the open highways. In an urban area this would be less suspicious ... we're talking open highway here ...

[Unknowing]

The Byers Sinclair station, (303) 822-9255, confirms that they do indeed sell diesel "for cars."

[babaloo999]

Unfortunately, I know all too well what 'bobtailing' is.
I was questioning why they were at a gasoline pump meant for passenger vehicles.
And apparently that station sells diesel for cars, but not the "big rigs"?
These guys must have been like the 9/11 hijackers. They knew how to drive the truck and absolutely nothing else.

[Unknowing]

Yes, these guys were barely skilled at what they were doing.

There are no pumps for "big rigs" at that little Byers Sinclair filling station. The 9News website has a picture of the Byers Sinclair station, at http://www.9news.com/storyfull.asp?id=11281. This small-town gas station looks at least 30 years old, with perhaps one island of 1970's-era pumps -- only one pumps diesel, I'd guess.

And yes, this skill-gap pattern seems to fit the modus operandi of the 9/11 hijackers as well as Moussouwi, the "horizontal flier."