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| FBI: Boston Terror Threat Was False Alarm |
| 2005-01-26 |
| The FBI said Tuesday that the possible terrorist plot reported against Boston by a tipster last week was a false alarm. A law enforcement official in Mexico said that a suspected smuggler made the story up to get back at people who failed to pay him. "There were in fact no terrorist plans or activity under way," an FBI statement said. "Because the criminal investigation is ongoing, no further details can be provided at this time." Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones was detained over the weekend in Mexicali, a Mexican border town near San Diego. His son, also named Jose, was detained Monday. According to a law enforcement official there, the two men were involved in smuggling Chinese immigrants across the border and told investigators that smugglers had squabbled over a deal, and that one had anonymously called in the false tip to U.S. authorities as revenge. The source, who asked not to be named, did not say which smuggler had made the call. snip The two were later released; relatives at their houses told reporters Tuesday that they were not at home. The FBI statement did not say whether Quinones and his son had provided the information that allowed the threat to be ruled out, but the bureau did thank Mexican law enforcement agencies for their help. snip |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #5 Green card for him, love match (at long last!) for her. Thanks for the chuckle, TW. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-01-26 3:06:22 PM |
| #4 The FBI has been keeping tabs on Alpha Tango since Sept. 11 Riiiggght. Keeping tabs sounds very tough. the bureau did thank Mexican law enforcement agencies for their help But of course. If this tip had not turned out to be bogus, no doubt Meuller and Ridge would have thanked the illegal alien smuggler for his help, perhaps even recommending that he get the medal of honor. This open borders crap makes me crazy. It is a tragedy that is waiting to happen and when it does the finger of blame should point directly at GWB's policy with Mexico. GWB is worse than Clinton ever was. GWB pretty much put out a welcome mat to illegals when he pre-prematurely announced his "compassionate" guest worker plan last January. GWB should have asked Germany and France about how wonderbar their guest worker programs turned out to be before announcing this doomed policy for his own country. There is no other country in the world that tolerates the level of contempt for its sovereignity that Mexico shows America 24/7. How can GWB speak with a straight face about threats to America from without while at the same time condoning a porous border with a nation that can be used as an easy conduit for nationals from S. America, the ME, and Asia that are rabidly anti-USA? Mexico itself has a growing population of anti-American folks and couple that with its nation's well known levels of corruption, is a recipe for a disaster. |
| Posted by: 2xstandard 2005-01-26 3:04:02 PM |
| #3 A Mexican man who reported Boston was targeted for a terrorist nuclear attack confessed he fabricated the story to take revenge on a man who stiffed him in a deal to smuggle illegal aliens, a source said. ``He's admitted it's all a hoax,'' said a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation of Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones, who was taken into custody Monday along with his son in Mexicali by Mexican police and interviewed by the FBI. ``He admitted he was trying to get back at his employer, who is a human smuggler,'' said the source. FBI officials in Washington, D.C., released a statement saying Beltran's telephone report last week that two Iraqis and four Chinese nationals planned to detonate a nuclear device in Boston ``had no credibility.'' The FBI had no comment on whether Beltran will face criminal charges. An official in Mexico told the Associated Press that Beltran and his son Jose were released because they had obtained a court injunction preventing their arrest. According to a statement released last night by the Mexican Attorney General's Office, Beltran denied being a smuggler but admitted making the bogus 911 call to the California Highway Patrol Jan. 17. He said he was drunk and under the influence of drugs at the time but the call ``was only a joke.'' |
| Posted by: Steve 2005-01-26 2:36:06 PM |
| #2 Green card for him, love match (at long last!) for her. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-26 2:16:14 PM |
| #1 Michelle Malkin's blog had some interesting followup: 1. Afzal Hameed and Taylor were married in 1980 (they were 23 (Hameed) and 45 (Taylor) respectively. Green card marriage?). 2. Hameed, is president of Alpha Tango Flying Services in San Antonio, which trains pilots and mechanics. Alpha Tango Flying Services--which, by the way, caters to Saudi Arabian flight students. 3. Among their clients were three Arab flight students investigated by the FBI, including Al Qaeda operative Abdul Hakim Murad , who was arrested in Manila in 1995 and later convicted in New York of plotting to blow up a dozen U.S. airliners over the Pacific, then crash a suicide plane into CIA headquarters. The FBI has been keeping tabs on Alpha Tango since Sept. 11. |
| Posted by: ed 2005-01-26 11:55:20 AM |