Huh. Buying 600 phones...?

[Least_Original_User_Name_Ever]

@erie774

Cell phones have been used for years as triggers for IEDs. Both the Mossad and PLO have used them that way too. It is a simple matter to wire a blasting cap to the speaker on one phone and then plant it wherever you want. You can either call it from one of the other phones or set the alarm function. Either way, you now have a remotely detonated explosive device.
Since these phones are being paid for in cash, there is no trace back like there would be for any other type of cell phone. Something tells me bin Laden isn’t going to sign up for the Sprint family pack just so he can blow up a bridge.
With 600 cell phones, they could have planted 600 timed devices on a bridge, in buildings, in airplanes, etc. When you use a phone it generally synchs up the time with the cell network so you are guaranteed to have simultaneous explosions. You could have malls across the Midwest all blowing up at noon on August 22 by setting the calendar alert (my cell phone calendar can be set a year in advance) and placing them in the planters in the food courts.
Alternatively, it is an assassination tool. In 1996 Mossad killed a Hamas leader by putting explosives in his cell phone. Terrorist would most likely just use the IED version by leaving some wired phones along a road (duct taped under a mailbox, for example) and wait for some target to pass by. A big city mayor, a gasoline tanker, a school bus. It doesn’t matter. The terrorist could be a mile away looking through binoculars. Imagine someone at the top of the Sears Tower observation deck placing calls and raining destruction down on Chicago.
Criminals know that they can use a “disposable” phone once to contact another operative/cell member/gangster and then they both throw the phones away. If the phone is used only once, there will never be a repeat hit on the number by investigators. Even if something like Echelon catches them talking about blowing up the White House, the computers will never run across the number again and it will be a dead end, hampering investigations.
So if I see anyone buying a ton of cell phones, I am immediately concerned that something nefarious is going on. Come on, folks! Read your Tom Clancy or watch the crime movies. The threat is real and more pervasive than you would like to believe. I’m not paranoid, but I am nervous. These guys were caught. How much do you want to bet there are others who have not been found yet?

A lot charges have been dropped .No connection to terrorism. Just beginnning capitalists.

[gonzomax]

The phones are loss leaders at Walmart. To keep from reselling they limit you to 3 at each sale. They bought as many as possible at each store and stood to make 4thou. They sell for 12-20 and buy for 8.

[Slypork]

Mea culpa, mea culpa. I will be the first to admit that I was wrong. I am a little paranoid but this situation just sounded too flaky. So they really were turning around and selling the phones for profit. Good luck to them.

But I’m still nervous about whoever has not been caught.

[FRDE]

@erie774

Mea culpa, mea culpa. I will be the first to admit that I was wrong. I am a little paranoid but this situation just sounded too flaky. So they really were turning around and selling the phones for profit. Good luck to them.

But I’m still nervous about whoever has not been caught.

The joke is that the guys will probably get a ‘letter of authorization’ allowing them carry cell 'phones in the car.

I’ve never been in a Walmart ( I live in the UK ) but I think those guys could have saved quite a lot of fuel by using different checkouts and doing a quick change of clothing in the car park.

Hmm… with 12 in the car, maybe they did just that - 2 visits each

[Blalron]

Is it against the law to buy hundreds of phones?

[Squink]

feds have taken over terrorism case

A county prosecutor said Wednesday that he had turned over to federal authorities the case of three Texas men whom he had charged with terrorism-related offenses.

Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene asked a judge to dismiss the state charges, saying that the U.S. attorney’s office had issued its own charges against the men…
Reene did not say what federal charges had been brought against the men. Messages were left with a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit.

[gonzomax]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060816/NEWS99/60816016 Freep article.