3 Texas men arraigned on terror charges
3 Texas men arraigned on terror charges
CARO, Mich. - Three Texas men were arraigned Saturday on terrorism-related charges after police found about 1,000 cell phones in their minivan.
Investigators believe the men were targeting the 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas. But one of the men said they were only trying to buy and sell phones to make money.
A magistrate set bond at $750,000 for each of the men, who are charged with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes. No pleas were made at the arraignment at a District Court in Caro, about 80 miles north of Detroit.
Officials have not said what they believe the men intended to do with the phones, most of which were prepaid TracFones. But Caro's police chief said cell phones can be used as detonators, and prosecutors in a similar case in Ohio have said that TracFones are often used by terrorists because they are not traceable.
"All we did is buy the phones to sell and make money," Louai Abdelhamied Othman told the magistrate. He said it wasn't the first time the group had been questioned.
"We've been checked by the FBI before," he said. "They even gave us their card and everything."
Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene told The Saginaw News that investigators believe the men were targeting the Mackinac Bridge. He declined to say what led investigators to that belief.
Reene and the FBI did not return phone messages Saturday to The Associated Press.
Othman and Maruan Awad Muhareb, both of Mesquite, Texas, and Adham Abdelhamid Othman, of Dallas, were stopped before dawn Friday after they purchased 80 cell phones from a Wal-Mart in Caro. Police said they found about 1,000 cell phones in their minivan.
The men cooperated with police and the FBI for hours before their arrests Friday afternoon. Adham and Louai Othman are in their early 20s, and Muhareb is 18. All are being held at the Tuscola County Jail, Caro police said.
The arrests in Caro came three days after two men were arrested in Marietta, Ohio, where police said they aroused suspicions when they acknowledged buying about 600 phones in recent months at stores in southeast Ohio.
Ali Houssaiky and Osama Abulhassan, both 20 and from Detroit suburb of Dearborn, have been charged with two felonies — money laundering in support of terrorism and soliciting or providing support for acts of terrorism — and misdemeanor falsification. A preliminary hearing on the felony counts was set for Tuesday.
Defense lawyers said Houssaiky and Abulhassan planned to resell the phones simply to make money. They say the men were targeted only because they are of Arab descent.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060812/ap_ ... or_charges
