Thread: Huachuca City detains 2 Middle Eastern men with 1000 cell ph

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5286637&nav=HMO6HMaY

Lupita Murillo Reports
Huachuca City detains 2 Middle Eastern men with 1000 cell phones; Feds release them

Aug 16, 2006 07:51 AM PDT


Arizona's Counter-Terrorism Information Center has advised Arizona's law enforcement officials that there is a possible increase in suspicious purchases of prepaid cell phones.

Tucson Police have been searching for two men, of Middle Eastern descent for allegedly trying to buy around 50 disposable cell phones at a local Sam's Club.

Those men are wanted for questioning, but not criminal charges.

The Counter-Terrorism center is also monitoring the case.

Tuesday, two new claims.

An inside source says at a Tucson Family Dollar store, two men have also been trying to buy cell phones from that chain.

And there's news from Huachuca City that police detained two Middle Eastern men from California for trying to buy large quantities of disposable cell phones.

Experts say that those disposable phones can't be traced and that they can be used to detonate a bomb.

Those details are exclusive to News 4 and our Lupita Murillo.

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An anonymous tip to Huachuca City police on April 21st...

Sgt. Jennifer Fuller, the dispatcher who took the call, says, "There were two Middle Eastern gentlemen buying a large amount of phones in the general area and they were headed our way."

Huachuca City police swung into action. They set up surveillance at the Dollar General and the Family Dollar stores.

They soon spottd the black Ford Explorer with a California license plate, the vehicle the caller told police about.

Three people -- a woman, and two men with Middle Eastern names -- were detained, questioned, and later released by federal agents.

Sgt. Fuller says "The ICE agents checked with their supervisors and, because nothing illegal was going on, the two men were allowed to leave."

Police found in the vehicle, a large number of prepaid cell phones.

Sgt. Fuller says, "They had purchased about 300 phones in the surrounding areas. Later discovered 1000 in their vehicle."

"They had taken phones out of the containers, out of the packages. They didn't take chargers, didn't take instructions how to activate the phone, they just left everything else behind."

So while purchasing 1000 phones may not be illegal, Huachuca City police say, "It's just enough to make you think it's not right."

As we mentioned, there's a new report of big cell phone purchases in Tucson Family Dollar stores as well.

A source tells News 4 that on Saturday, 2 men came in to try to buy as many cell phones as they could.

The source says this has been happening for the last two months.

Family Dollar released a statement to News 4, saying that it sells the disposable phones without a contract for customer convenience, but says, "While the program has been very well received by our customers, we do limit (the) purchase to two per customer to curtail opportunities for re-sale in other markets."

Experts say that those disposable phones can't be traced and that they can be used to detonate a bomb.

This is the same as the terrorist stopped at the Washington state/Canada
border...the one who was planning to explode a bomb at LAX New Year's 2000.

Sgt. Fuller says "The ICE agents checked with their supervisors and, because nothing illegal was going on, the two men were allowed to leave."

Police found in the vehicle, a large number of prepaid cell phones.

Sgt. Fuller says, "They had purchased about 300 phones in the surrounding areas. Later discovered 1000 in their vehicle."

So while purchasing 1000 phones may not be illegal, Huachuca City police say, "It's just enough to make you think it's not right."

Duh, ya think????????? What are those ICE agents thinking?

Why can't they just bulk buy from tracfon? Is there a reason they are traveling to different areas to purchase so many? I'm being a snot. Now lets see.......what else does a person have to do to be under suspicion?