Terrorists Snapping Up Disposable Cell Phones
I haven't had time to research this in any detail, but it has the potential to be an important story: suspected terrorists have begun buying disposable cell phones in bulk. I take it that such phones are difficult if not impossible to trace. What makes the story potentially explosive is that the current buying spree seems to have begun suddenly, in various locations around the country, possibly as a reaction to the New York Times' blowing the secrecy of the NSA's cell phone intercept program. If that's true, and if these disposable phones really make it harder for the NSA to exploit information about al Qaeda's overseas phone numbers, the Times will have a lot to answer for.
At this point, though, I don't know that that is the case. I'm not sure who first highlighted this story, but Michelle Malkin has a good roundup with links to a number of sites and news stories. Apparently one would-be bulk purchaser has already been linked to a suspected terrorist cell in Texas.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Reader Brian McCarthy is skeptical of the police report that Michelle got from ABC News, and is up on her site. He makes some good points:
I looked at the “police report” that Michelle Malkin included in her post in this topic (which she, in turn, received from an online ABC news’ story). I am pretty sure the document is a hoax. Here are some of the reasons:First, there is no identification of the police department or the name of the form at the top of the doc.
Second the form looks clumsy and the entries are very odd:
Victim’s name: “United States of America” – What? That is an odd statement.The document is too clean to be a scanned document – it was created and translated into PDF by PDF writer without ever being printed– a strange thing for a police department to do.
There is a blatant error on the form: The word “sex” appears in a column related to arrest status. The next column over is the related to the sex of the arrested person. If this were a form that kind of error would have been removed (and it is a form error - not an entry error).
The word “metroplex” is vague and odd and the link to known terrorist cells seems very unlikely. If we know of terrorist cells in the Midland TX area (where the President’s home is) it would either not be reported in a police report or they would be a former terrorist cell (as they would be under arrest.). Also why would that text in the report be bolded? A police officer would not bold text because it is sensational.
Third, anyone who has seen a police report knows that this is much too limited to be a police report. If it is a summary for use with public releases then why would it contain areas calling for information that seemingly could not be released (there is text blacked out).
I agree that the "police report" is odd. At the same time, it's hard to believe that ABC was hoaxed; either they got it from the Midland Police or they didn't. Presumably we'll find out before long.
FURTHER UPDATE: Sensible Mom wrote to say that she's talked to the Midland Police Department. The document is real, but not intended for public consumption:
I just spoke with Tina Jauz, the Public Information Officer, and she stated the the document is for law enforcement use only. It is a preliminary report of on-the-scene information and thoughts. The report is used to inform the next shift, for briefings and is shared with other agencies assisting the department. The document is for internal use only. The Midland Police Department did not release this information to ABC News. At this point, they don't know who released the report....
She also links to a report in the local newspaper that indicates the police have backed off the link to a terrorist group:
ABC's Thursday story also asserted a link between a suspected terrorist cell and the men attempting to purchase cell phones in Midland.According to an MPD incident report quoted in an ABC online report paralleling Thursday's televised Nightly News story, "it was discovered that members of the group were linked to suspected terrorist cells stationed within the Metroplex."
However Vanderland said Thursday after the ABC report aired that assertions of a connection between a terror cell and the men who attempted to purchase cell phones from a Midland Wal-Mart were invalid.
"There is no known link or demonstrated link or any other kind of link at this point between the people here and any terror cell," he said."
Which doesn't mean, of course, that the attempted mass cell phone purchase wasn't suspicious.
