Officials close an 80-mile section of Florida’s I-75 and impose a no-fly zone in the area. Suspects are held following a terror alert. Details soon.
From CNN, just now.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/13/alligator.alley/index.html
"Florida law enforcement officials issued an alert Thursday night after a Georgia woman overheard a conversation among three men in a Calhoun, Georgia, restaurant. She said the conversation indicated they were planning a September 13 terror attack on Miami, according to a report by Miami’s WSVN-TV.
The men then left the restaurant and headed south on Interstate 75, the report said.
Alligator Alley is a major cross-Florida highway that runs between Naples on the west to near Fort Lauderdale on the east."
And I thought it was going to be a nice day.
Uncle Bill and Geobabe, you were the first people I’d thought about when I heard this.
This is from www.reuters.com
Police in Florida Detain 3 After Terrorist Alert
September 13, 2002 08:05 AM ET
MIAMI (Reuters) - Police in Florida detained three men and detonated an item found in their car early on Friday after receiving information of a possible terrorist threat, police said.
The Highway Patrol closed off Alligator Alley, a main east-west road in south Florida, after stopping the vehicle.
Live TV showed a bomb squad team detonate what appeared to be a bag taken from the car.
The three men, said to be of Middle Eastern descent, were being questioned in police custody.
Authorities issued an alert after a woman reported overhearing a conversation in a restaurant in Georgia in which three men were discussing what she thought were terrorist plans, TV reports said.
The United States has been on alert against any terrorist threat this week as it marked the anniversary of the attacks on of Sept 11, 2001 in which about 3,000 people were killed.
The three men were stopped heading west toward Naples on the Gulf Coast. Bomb squad personnel were still searching the car.
That woman should get a medal!
I wish they’d elaborate on how big the bomb was. I mean, was this just a baby bomb, or a huge stadium-leveler?
[numerology nut]And it would have been on Friday the 13th, too. Oooooohhhh, spooky man.[/nn]
bella
I wouldn’t be too surprised if it wasn’t a bomb at all. But I’d be a bit relieved, as well.
Huh? They were headed WEST? Either a mistake or odd.
My Great-Aunt caused a bomb scare in London in the 1970s with an abandoned bag of cabbages, so there is hope.
I also think it’s unlikely that Al Qaeda operatives would be openly discussing terrorism in English in a restaurant. Unless the woman spoke Arabic, or the alleged terrorists were from a different group.
jimm, those were my thoughts exactly.
I’m also with Coldfire hoping it wasn’t a bomb, merely a false alarm.
it seems that the dogs have alerted to the scent of explosive material. that means that at sometime the vehicle had explosive material in it. it doesn’t mean that a bomb is present right now.
there was an incedent in ohio earlier this week where a man claimed to be in an office building to install a bomb. the dogs alerted his car, but bomb squad didn’t find a device.
i find it a bit interesting that they ran a toll plaza.
rocking chair, where does it say that they ran a toll plaza?
Why would Arabs discuss their plans in English in front of a waitress?
Sounds like BS.
I’ve been listening to the NBC morning news, and according to them, one of the cars ran a toll plaza.
I find it interesting that the conversation was overheard in a restaurant in Calhoun, GA, in north Georgia and the vehicle wasn’t stopped until it was on Alligator Alley in south Florida. They drove I-75 through Georgia and Florida and nobody spotted them? If they were headed west, I wonder if they cut over to I-95, drove south and then got onto Alligator Alley or did they get on the Florida Turnpike, drive down to Ft. Lauderdale, then get onto Alligator Alley? Did they get confused on directions? This is really strange.
Who said they were Arabs?
She just described them as “of Middle Eastern descent.”
Has that been established yet? Until then, can we please hold off?
Please?
cnn reports that one car ran the toll plaza. an official is giving a press conference now and he stated that one car ran the plaza, one stopped. they have identified the suspects but the official will not name them.
from the map cnn is showing now they appear to be between naples and miami, that may be why they are saying west. the official also mentioned the direction west when speaking of the toll plaza. mile marker 99 or 100 has been mentioned about where the cars were stopped.
“Bomb squad investigators saw wires sticking out of a package in one of the cars, and used a water cannon to blow it apart, an official said. The package turned out to be medical equipment.”
-from cnn.com
www.cnn.com. The article says one of the cars ran a toll plaza.
Ok, the toll plaza thing wasn’t on the cnn site when I read it. Seems they are updating pretty regularly.
I’m also not in the states so I’m not seeing/hearing the news on tv/radio.