Surge in Sale of Disposable Cell Phones May Have Terror Link

LadyEagle · Jan 13, 2006

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150 Phones in One Sale, 60 Phones in Another

The FBI is closely monitoring the potentially dangerous development, which came to light following recent large-quantity purchases in California and Texas, officials confirmed.

In one New Year's Eve transaction at a Target store in Hemet, Calif., 150 disposable tracfones were purchased. Suspicious store employees notified police, who called in the FBI, law enforcement sources said.

In an earlier incident, at a Wal-Mart store in Midland, Texas, on Dec. 18, six individuals attempted to buy about 60 of the phones until store clerks became suspicious and notified the police. A Wal-Mart spokesperson confirmed the incident.

The Midland police report, dated Dec. 18 and obtained by ABC News, states: "Information obtained by MPD [Midland Police Department] dispatch personnel indicated that approximately six individuals of Middle-Eastern origin were attempting to purchase an unusually large quantity of tracfones (disposable cell phones with prepaid minutes attached)." At least one of the suspects was identified as being from Iraq and another from Pakistan, officials said.

"Upon the arrival of officers, suspects were observed moving away from the registers — appearing to evade detection while ridding themselves of the merchandise."
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Click here for the whole article:

ABC News

Phillip · Jan 13, 2006

well, if there is any truth to this--they have all of the codes on the phones and they will be monitored by Homeland-Security. I certainly wouldn't loose any sleep over this.

The issues regarding terrorism that you DO need to lose sleep over, are the things you do NOT know (nor does the press).

LadyEagle · Jan 14, 2006

According to the article:

The phones — which do not require purchasers to sign a contract or have a credit card — have many legitimate uses, and are popular with people who have bad credit or for use as emergency phones tucked away in glove compartments or tackle boxes. But since they can be difficult or impossible to track, law enforcement officials say the phones are widely used by criminal gangs and terrorists.
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So, if they do have all the codes on the phones, (which I doubt), but if they do, they are still "difficult or impossible to track." :(

You will recall that the Madrid bombs were detonated by cell phones.

hillclimber · Jan 14, 2006

I heard on the radio this AM that this didn't really happen.

emeraldctyangel · Jan 15, 2006

So are a lot of the IEDs in Iraq. We use cell phone jammer devices in our convoys though, and that helps a good deal. Still the bomb can be detonated manually, and those are hard to see to start with.

Surge in Sale of Disposable Cell Phones May Have Terror Link

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