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| Home Front: WoT |
| FBI adds names to Boston suspect list |
| 2005-01-21 |
| The FBI added the names of nine Chinese people and one other man to the list of those being sought for questioning about a possible terror plot targeting Boston. Joe Parris, a spokesman for the FBI, said Thursday that the names "were developed as a result of the ongoing investigation" but did not signal that credible evidence has emerged indicating such a plot actually exists. "Information is still uncorroborated and from a source of unknown reliability and motive," Parris said. The names are part of the same anonymous tip that led the authorities to announce Wednesday that they are seeking to question four other Chinese and two Iraqis. The new names bring to 16 the people being sought for questioning. A federal law enforcement official in Washington, speaking condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation, said the tip had been received by the California Highway Patrol. The informer claimed that the four Chinese, two men and two women, had entered the United States from Mexico and were awaiting a shipment of "nuclear oxide" that would follow them to Boston. The official said the nuclear oxide could be a reference to material used to make a "dirty bomb" that would spew radiation over a wide area. Michael Sullivan, the federal prosecutor based in Boston, said Thursday that the authorities had learned more background about the original four Chinese, but "it makes us no more alarmed this morning, this afternoon, than we were yesterday." "They're not wanted at this point in time for any crimes because there's no evidence at this point in time that they've committed any crimes," Sullivan said. "We're not certain exactly where they are. We can't even say for certain that they're in the country." The White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, said he discussed the manhunt with President George W. Bush during an Oval Office meeting a few hours before his inauguration for a second term. Card did not provide details on what was said. The four Chinese previously named by the FBI were identified as Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen and Guozhi Lin. The authorities said none of the names had appeared on previous watch lists of terror suspects. The bureau also released pictures of those four but not of the others being sought. One woman was among the nine new Chinese names added: Yu Xian Weng, a woman either 40 or 41 years old. The others were all men: Quinquan or Quiquan Lin, 21; Liqiang Liang, 28; Min Xiu Xie, 27; Xiang or Xing Wei Liu, 22; Mei Xia Dong, 21; Xiuming Chen; Cheng Yin Liu; and Zao Yun Wang. The final name on the new FBI list was José Ernesto Belträn Quiñones, of unknown age or national origin. In Boston, there were visible signs of stepped-up security, including the searching of vehicles as they entered some underground parking garages and the posting of pictures of the Chinese suspects in the booths where subway tokens are sold by transit employees. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 How about shutting the friggin border down instead of hunting them once they get in? Or is that too simplistic? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-21 1:52:41 PM |
| #3 It's just so damn hard for a terrorist to take a holiday these days! |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-01-21 1:44:54 PM |
| #2 1) Just because they're Chinese doesn't mean they're not Muslim. 2) Even if they're not Muslim doesn't mean they're not terrorists. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-01-21 1:42:17 PM |
| #1 It still makes no sense to me that a Chinese team would come here bent on a terror attack. Here are two more AP articles that give a some additional details. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-21 1:11:29 PM |