Anyone know what these fuckers were really doing?
 

CARO, Mich. - Three Texas men were arraigned Saturday on terrorism-related charges after police found about 1,000 cell phones in their minivan, and prosecutors say they believe the men were targeting a bridge connecting Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas

But two of the men said they were only trying to buy and sell phones to make money, and one said the money was intended to help pay for his brother's college education.

A magistrate set bond at $750,000 for each of the men, who are charged with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes. No pleas were made at the arraignment at a District Court in Caro, about 80 miles north of Detroit.

Officials have not said what they believe the men intended to do with the phones, most of which were prepaid TracFones. But Caro's police chief said cell phones can be used as detonators, and prosecutors in a similar case in Ohio have said that TracFones are often used by terrorists because they are not traceable.

"All we did is buy the phones to sell and make money," Louai Abdelhamied Othman told the magistrate. He said authorities had previously stopped the group in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

"We've been checked by the FBI before," he said. "They even gave us their card and everything."

Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene told The Saginaw News that investigators believe the men were targeting the 5-mile long Mackinac Bridge. He declined to say what led investigators to that belief.

Reene and the FBI did not return phone messages Saturday to The Associated Press.

Othman and Maruan Awad Muhareb, both of Mesquite, Texas, and Adham Abdelhamid Othman, of Dallas, were stopped before dawn Friday after they purchased 80 cell phones from a Wal-Mart in Caro. Police said they found about 1,000 cell phones in their minivan.

Adham and Louai Othman are brothers and are in their early 20s. Muhareb, 18, is their cousin. All are being held at the Tuscola County Jail, Caro police said.

Muhareb told the magistrate: "This is a misunderstanding." He said he was selling the phones to earn money to help pay for his brother's college education.

Louai Othman's wife, Lina Odeh, said the men were buying the phones to sell to a man in Dallas for a profit of about $5 per phone. She said they were in Michigan because so many people in the Dallas area are doing the same thing that the phones are often sold out.

"I just want everyone to know that they're innocent and they shouldn't be locked up in jail without any evidence," she told The Associated Press.

The arrests in Caro came three days after two men were arrested in Marietta, Ohio, where police said they aroused suspicions when they acknowledged buying about 600 phones in recent months at stores in southeast Ohio.

Ali Houssaiky and Osama Abulhassan, both 20 and from Detroit suburb of Dearborn, have been charged with two felonies ? money laundering in support of terrorism and soliciting or providing support for acts of terrorism ? and misdemeanor falsification. A preliminary hearing on the felony counts was set for Tuesday.

Defense lawyers said Houssaiky and Abulhassan planned to resell the phones simply to make money. They say the men were targeted only because they are of Arab descent.

History is full of funny and interesting reclassifications of munitions, during war and peace.

2hp

Prison conversation:


Psst Dude ... whats you in for?


Ahhh ... I bought to many cell phones :Oh crap

Just a 'thank god bush is in charge and making us safe' feel good story.

Funny how the FBI spends its time watching cell phone buyers while Ibill execs play on the yachts we paid for.

Something's not right with that.

I can't figure out anyones motives in this :helpme

cell phones? are we now all terrorists? I one like 3 of them, am I threat already ?

Since they mentioned North and South Dakota (I live in South Dakota) my guess would be that they stole the TracPhones since they are not kept under lock here. I would imagine that they stole them from samller retailer like Alco (a chaind of Wal-Mart-like stroes in the upper mid-west) and honestly plan to sell them...

Why would you need 1000 cell phones to blow up one bridge?

http://www.csh.rit.edu/~topher/jokes...ll%20phone.jpg

...and in other cell phone news...

Hung jury: Mistrial declared in cell-phone assault case
By KEVIN HOFFMANN The Kansas City

A Jackson County Circuit Court judge declared a mistrial this afternoon in the case of a man accused of shoving a cell phone into his ex-girlfriend?s throat.

Judge Michael W. Manners accepted the jury?s conclusion that it would be unable to reach a verdict in the case of Marlon Brando Gill, 24. That ruling ended roughly seven hours of deliberations spanning two days in the county?s Independence courthouse annex.

Prosecutors said they expected to retry the case. Gill, who has been jailed since December on $100,000 cash bond, will remain there for the time being.

Members of the jury said this afternoon that the final deadlock was 8-4 in favor of acquittal. While there were concerns about his testimony, they said, inconsistencies created enough reasonable doubt to preclude a verdict of guilty.

Earlier today, they had twice returned to court to report being deadlocked; twice, Manners ordered them back to work.

Today?s deliberations began at 9 a.m. A little more than half an hour later, jurors broke to put a question to Manners: ?We are unable to arrive at a unanimous decision. What do we do now??

He instructed them to return to the jury room and to make every attempt to reach a unanimous verdict. They returned to that task at 9:45 a.m.

After another hour of wrangling, jurors reported that they were still split, without indicating whether they were leaning toward a finding of guilt or acquittal. Manners told them that it was too soon to declare them deadlocked. He sent them back into the jury room and told them to expect to work through lunch.

Just after lunch, though, jurors indicated that there was no hope of breaking the deadlock. Manners dismissed them shortly afterward.

Gill was accused of forcing the cell phone into the mouth of Melinda Abell in the early hours of Dec. 23 while the two argued in a car.

During five-day trial, the 25-year-old Abell testified that she had been drinking throughout the evening and had no recollection of how the phone ended up lodged in her throat. Gill says she tried to swallow it to prevent him from finding out whom she had been calling that night.

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