http://www.spooneradvocate.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=224266 Cell phones bought in bulk BY FRANK ZUFALL Spooner Advocate Last Updated: Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 10:55:25 AM
A week after it was made public that three Dallas, Texas, men picked up in Cario, Mich., on Aug. 11 with around 1,000 cell phones in their vehicle also had been stopped by Rice Lake police on July 19 and were questioned after attempting to make a large purchase of phones from Wal-Mart in Rice Lake, Spooner Chief of Police Robert Andrea confirms that the FBI is tracking another purchaser who reportedly bought large quantities of phones in Spooner, Hayward and Ladysmith. Andrea said a $1,200 cash purchase of Tracfones was made on May 31 at the Spooner Pamida. Reportedly, the purchase involved as many as 60 phones. Andrea s aid he also was informed that on or about the same day, the same person made hefty purchases from Pamida in Hayward and Ladysmith. The police chief said he could not release details of the investigation, but he said the FBI has identified an out-of-state man as the possible purchaser and the FBI believes the cell phones do not have a terrorist connection. Linda Krieg, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI Milwaukee office, said she would not be able to comment about the status of the investigation. "There has been a flurry of cases across the nation of large purchases," she said. "It doesn't mean they are being bought for nefarious reasons." A simple Web search on the subject of "cell phones" and "terrorism" will turn up a number of articles published about reports of large number of cell phones. As early as Jan. 12, ABCnews.go.com carried an article titled, "Surge in sale of disposable cell phones may have terror link." According to the Web site wikipedia.org, pay-as-you-go Tracfones are in demand overseas because "airtime is l egally harvested by removing the sim card and the handsets are sold to bulk resellers. The bulk reseller can sell the parts such as the battery and charger legally, but may be committing an illegal act if they manipulate the internal software and 'unlock' the handset." In America, the primary concern over large sales of cell phones is that they may used by a terrorist group to remote-detonate bombs. Terrorist are suspected of using pay-as-go cell phones, not requiring registration, on March 11, 2004 to detonate 10 bombs on trains in Madrid.According to CNN.com, 191 people were killed and more than 1,500 were injured in Madrid. American Military experts have also claimed cell phone are being used to kill American servicemen by denotating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) along Iraq streets. FBI Special Agent Daniel D. Roberts in a Aug. 14 press release said the three Dallas men arrested in Cario, Mich. did not appear to have "any direct nexus to terrorism." The three men, identified as naturalized citizens of Palestinian descent, according to MSNBC.com article "FBI: No terror ties to men in cell phone arrest," had images of the Mackinaw Bridge and were feared to be planning an attack against the structure. The three men said they took images as tourist. The Rice Lake Chronotype reported in its Aug. 18 article "Local cell phone hoarders arrested in Michigan," that when questioned by a Rice Lake investigator on July 19 the three men said they were purchasing the phone to resell in Texas who then resold them overseas. Even thought the cell phone purchases in Spooner, Hayward, Ladysmith, and Rice Lake may in the end be the proverbial "much to do about nothing," Andrea encourages citizens to be diligent and report anything raising suspicion. "We don't think about it often, but we have an international port in Duluth, 70-miles away, that could be the target of a terrorist attack," sai d Andrea. -- non sibi sed patriae [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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