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Man in nuclear-terror hoax held in Mexicali


UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

12:57 p.m. October 17, 2005

SAN DIEGO – A Mexican national accused of concocting a phony terrorist threat against the United States involving a nuclear warhead is in Mexican custody after being arrested at the request of the U.S. government, the FBI announced Monday.
Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinonez was arrested in Mexicali early Saturday morning in Mexicali on a provisional U.S. arrest warrant issued in May.

The indictment stemmed from a series of 911 calls made from a cellular telephone alleging that a nuclear warhead was going to be smuggled by illegal Iraqi and Chinese immigrants into the United States through a tunnel under the U.S.-Mexico border at Mexicali. The caller claimed that Boston was the warhead's final destination.

Authorities said the caller promised to back up his claim by throwing a packet of documents over the fence at the border. Beltran's fingerprints were found on that package. The threat was found to be unfounded.

"This unnecessary series of events took precious resources away from legitimate investigations," Daniel Dzwilewski, the top FBI agent in San Diego, said in a prepared statement. "We are pleased with the international law enforcement alliance demonstrated in this investigation and trust anyone else contemplating such hoaxes will think twice."