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MY Name you ask? Why Muhammad killamericans Atta
Published on August 12, 2006 By Moderateman In War on Terror
Three Arab-American men are scheduled to be arranged today in Caro on terrorism charges after they purchased 80 cell phones from a Wal-Mart store in Michigan's thumb area.

The men face felony charges of obtaining information of a vulnerable target for the purposes of terrorism and soliciting or providing material support for terrorism, police said.

At about 1:50 a.m. Friday, the Palestinian-American men bought the Nokia TracFones from the Wal-Mart store in Caro.

"This aroused the suspicion of a clerk, who called the local police department,'' said Caro Police Sgt. Dale Stevenson.

The men were from Texas, ages 19, 22, and 23, Stevenson said. They told police they were buying the phones to sell them to another man, who might then send them overseas.

Police were concerned about possible terrorism links, Stevenson said. TracFones are often not traceable. The FBI has interviewed the men, who have not been charged with any crime.

Police found an additional 1,000 cell phones in the vehicle of the men. They also had a bag of receipts indicating they had bought cell phones in Wisconsin the day before.

The Wal-Mart store had a policy of selling only three TracFones at a time, Caro police said.

But the men convinced the clerk to ring up the 80 phones three at a time, thus avoiding detection, police said. Normally, the cash register red-flags the store if someone tries to buy four or more of them.

The suspects paid for all of the phones with cash and $100 bills.

After police stopped the men, they found the phones in the van they were driving. The chargers for many of them had been thrown away. That indicated they may have been planned for use overseas, where the phones would use different electrical systems, police said.

There were several boxes of cell phones inside their van, about 120 in each of the boxes.

In recent months, federal law enforcement officials have been concerned about suspicious men buying large numbers of cell phones and have alerted local police about it.

Earlier in the week, prosecutors in Ohio charged two 20-year-old Dearborn men of Lebanese descent, Ali Houssaiky and Osama Abulhassan, with terrorism after they bought hundreds of cell phones. The family of Abulhassan released a statement Friday saying they were innocent men just trying to earn some money for college and were profiled because of their Arab ancestry.

Yes just innocent men that wanted to buy thousands of cellphones that are the primary detonation device in IED"S and other killing bombs.
Comments (Page 1)
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on Aug 12, 2006
It's definitely strange. In most 3rd world countries mobile phones are a great deal cheaper and far more readily available than in the US. You've got to wonder what the hell they were doing. Even if they were building bombs 1000 phones is a hell of a lot of detonators.

And if they were planning on selling them in the US who's going to buy them for more than Walmart's standard price?
on Aug 12, 2006
#1 by cactoblasta
Sat, August 12, 2006 8:27 PM


It's definitely strange.


strange? that's all you can come up with? Strange? heh heh
on Aug 12, 2006
Well how else could you describe it? I'm no expert on explosives but I wouldn't have thought you'd need more than one phone to make a detonator. 3,000 bombs seems a little out of the norm for terrorist behaviour.

I suppose I could have gone for odd or wierd.
on Aug 12, 2006
I also would have said weird, or strange, maybe insidious or suspicious.

Just like Cacto said, why would they try to be so incredibly obvious?
on Aug 12, 2006
#4 by singrdave
Sat, August 12, 2006 9:35 PM


Just like Cacto said, why would they try to be so incredibly obvious?


could it be they thought that the 'GREEDY AMERICAN PIGS" would just take the money and run?
on Aug 13, 2006
could it be they thought that the 'GREEDY AMERICAN PIGS" would just take the money and run?


eh? What do you mean? They were buying mobile phones in a store. What money is going to be taken? Are you saying it was an attempt to persuade the cashier to steal money from Walmart? That's a little overly elaborate isn't it?
on Aug 13, 2006
Perhaps MM should have said "take the money without asking any questions."

The police were suspicious that the phones were to be used to blow up the Mackinac Bridge. To my mind a more likely scenario is that the phones were to be used for communications and then tossed away before they could be tapped.
on Aug 13, 2006
#6 by cactoblasta
Sun, August 13, 2006 00:10 AM


eh? What do you mean?


I mean take the money with no questions, I was using american slang, my bad.
on Aug 13, 2006
#7 by Larry Kuperman
Sun, August 13, 2006 09:30 AM


Perhaps MM should have said "take the money without asking any questions."


I should have read your answer before replying to cacto.
on Aug 13, 2006
These guys were just stupid as there has already been reports of this before. (Buying lots of cell phones).  It is the ones that buy 10 at a time that we have to worry about.
on Aug 13, 2006
10 by Dr. Guy
Sun, August 13, 2006 10:47 AM


These guys were just stupid as there has already been reports of this before. (Buying lots of cell phones). It is the ones that buy 10 at a time that we have to worry about.


Standard procedure is buy more than four cells at one time the police should be notified.
on Aug 13, 2006
To my mind a more likely scenario is that the phones were to be used for communications and then tossed away before they could be tapped


no more than 2 phones required to trigger a detonator (and only one need be a cel). mackinac bridge is nearly 5 miles long but does it make sense (or is it even possible) toset charges like every 100'?

larry's gotta be right. dealers in the most recent series of 'the wire' were doin exactly that.
on Aug 13, 2006
#12 by kingbee
Sun, August 13, 2006 11:14 AM


Part of the report was that the charging systems for the phones had already been disposed of, since overseas wiring is different than here in the states, I believe they were going to ship them overseas and then the terrorist would disburse them to other cells.
on Aug 13, 2006
Even if they were building bombs 1000 phones is a hell of a lot of detonators.


Some of the information I have heard (unverified) indicates that it is not the phones, but the chips inside the phones that the terror leaders want. Something about the way they are designed that works in the manufacture of some of their bombs.
on Aug 13, 2006
no more than 2 phones required to trigger a detonator (and only one need be a cel). mackinac bridge is nearly 5 miles long but does it make sense (or is it even possible) toset charges like every 100'?


The Mackinac bridge would seem to be an odd target, honestly. Usually terrorists like to strike population centers, and the UP's pretty sparsely populated.

But, it's hard to say.
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