This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/387
Facts in dispute :Suspects reported to have been smuggled over Mexican border and dropped of in New York enroute to Boston
January 19, 2005
|
|
MIM: Public Safety officier Katie Ford rightly put it when she said : "We are keenly aware that in situations like this the government and the media are in a no win situation..we don't want to desensitive the public to potential terror attacks".
| Posted on Tue, Jan. 25, 2005 |  |
| |
| http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/iraq/10727616.htm FBI: Boston Terror Threat Was False Alarm BRIAN CAROVILLANO Associated Press BOSTON - 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. The official from the Baja California Attorney General's Office said the men told investigators the claim was nothing more than a tall tale. 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. Quinones himself was one of the people wanted for questioning in the alleged plot. The group also included 13 Chinese immigrants and two Iraqis; authorities later determined that one of the Chinese had been in federal custody for more than two months and had no terrorist connections. Almost immediately, officials stressed that they doubted the credibility of the terror tip. The tipster claimed members of the group had talked about material supposedly called "nuclear oxide" that would follow them from Mexico to Boston. The implication was that the group was plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" that spews hazardous material and can sicken or kill people. Despite some skepticism about the legitimacy of the tip, authorities stepped up security, and Gov. Mitt Romney skipped President Bush's inauguration in Washington to return to Boston. "While we questioned the credibility of the source information from the very beginning, we were determined to run this out, as we always do, to ensure there was no threat," Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Boston FBI agent in charge Kenneth Kaiser said in a statement. Romney's office referred calls to the state's Public Safety Office. Katie Ford, an agency spokeswoman, said authorities were concerned that unfounded terror alerts would make it look like investigators were "crying wolf." "We are keenly aware that in situations like this, government and the media are in a no-win situation," she said. "We don't want to desensitize the public to potential terror attacks." | |
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/01/19/pf-903854.html
MIM: 1/ 22/ 05 The latest news is that authorities believe the terror threat was a false claim made by a human smuggler who wanted to exact revenge on people he took over the border who failed to pay him. An FBI spokesman said the original claim was "uncorroborated" but that it would be investigated to "it's logical conclusion".
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=434261
FBI: Chinese Suspect Not Tied to Terror
Chinese Suspect Sought for Questioning in Alleged Boston Plot Has No Terror Connection, FBI Says
The Associated Press
Jan. 22, 2005 - One of the 16 people sought for questioning in an alleged terror plot in Boston has been in federal custody for more than two months and has no terrorist connections, the FBI said Saturday.
In an announcement posted on the FBI Internet site, officials said that Mei Xia Dong, a 21-year-old Chinese woman, has been at a Homeland Security Department immigration detention facility in San Diego since Nov. 11.
The match was made soon after her name surfaced last week as part of an anonymous tip about the possible terror plot. The original information indicated that Dong was a man.
Investigators say Dong paid a human smuggler to enter the United States through Mexico and that she wanted to come to this country only for economic reasons.
Authorities are continuing to search for 12 other Chinese, two unnamed Iraqis and one Hispanic man who may have been part of the same group of immigrants. But no evidence of terror motives has surfaced, as the tipster claimed.
"We're going to investigate it to its logical conclusion, but to date there's no corroboration of the original claim," FBI spokesman Joe Parris said.
One leading theory in the case is that the smuggler tipped authorities to a false terror plot to exact revenge on the group, perhaps because members failed to pay. Officials have stressed since news of the tip first broke on Wednesday that they doubted the credibility of the terror claims.
The tip included names and photographs of four Chinese people, and the names, some passport numbers and possible birthdates for nine other Chinese Dong was part of this group and the Hispanic man.
Government officials have provided no information about the two Iraqis. The FBI announcement mentions only the 14 people whose names have been released.
In addition, the tipster claimed that members of the group had talked about material supposedly called a "nuclear oxide" that would follow them from Mexico to Boston. The implication was that the group was plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" that spews hazardous material and can sicken or kill people.
No evidence has been found for such a plot.
Still, there were signs of stepped-up security this week in Boston, including more vehicle searches at underground parking garages and pictures of four Chinese suspects posted in city subways. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney skipped President Bush's inauguration in Washington to return to Boston after learning of the threat and has sought to reassure residents that danger was unlikely.
Several federal law enforcement officials have said that similar uncorroborated terrorism tips are received on an almost daily basis. Although they rarely check out as credible, the FBI and other agencies thoroughly investigate each one in the aftermath of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The other names and some possible ages released by the FBI are: Zengrong Lin; Wen Quin Zheng; Xiujin Chen; Guozi Lin; Yu Xian Weng, 40; Quinquan or Quiquan Lin, 21; Liqiang Liang, 28; Min Xiu Xie, 27; Xiang or Xing Wei Lui, 22; Xiuming Chen; Cheng Yin Liu; Zao Yun Wang; and Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones.
--------------------------------------
January 19, 2005
FBI alerts Boston law enforcement about 4 possible terror suspects
By DENISE LAVOIE
BOSTON (AP) - The FBI notified law enforcement officials Wednesday to be on the lookout for four Chinese nationals described as possible terror suspects who may be headed to the Boston area.
Federal law enforcement officials said they had received a tip about an unspecified threat against Boston, and released photographs of the two men and two women they were seeking. The suspects were identified as Zengrong Lin, Wen Zheng, Xiujin Chen and Guozhi Lin. Authorities said none of the names had been on previous watch lists of terror suspects.
The investigation stirred a frenzy of Media reports and prompted Gov. Mitt Romney, who had gone to Washington to attend Thursday's presidential inauguration, to decide to return to Massachusetts later Wednesday.
Romney cautioned that the threats were unsubstantiated and uncorroborated.
"We have had threats in the past. We take them seriously, even when they're not corroborated," he said.
Romney said the state's threat level would not be raised, but more people would be on duty in the state's emergency management bunker outside Boston.
"To assure the people of Boston and Massachusetts that it is safe to be at home, I am going to be sleeping in my bed in Massachusetts tonight and I feel perfectly safe doing so," Romney said. "In the very remote circumstance that my attention is needed, I will be able to respond on an immediate basis."
A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter remains under investigation, told The Associated Press that the FBI's joint terrorism task force has not yet corroborated a tip that the suspects entered the United States through Mexico in recent days, possibly bound for Boston.
The official stressed the tip is one of many from around the country that routinely are forwarded to local task forces for further investigation.
Authorities, meanwhile, have arrested four people accused of having ties to suspected terrorists and blocked 12 more from entering the United States in the first two weeks of this year, according to government documents.
Three arrests came last week in Michigan, New York and Louisiana, and suspects were either held in connection with terrorism investigations or placed in deportation proceedings, according to the documents. The fourth came Jan. 6 at Los Angeles International Airport.
-----------------------
http://www.11alive.com/news/usnews_article.aspx?storyid=57767
MIM: Update : Nine names added to list of Chinese being sought in terror plot and one of 'unknown origin'. This article contains a list of names.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI on Thursday 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.---------------------------------------
BOSTON -- Ten more names have been released as "persons of interest" in the ongoing Boston terror probe sparked Wednesday by an anonymous tip from Mexico to California.
NewsCenter 5's Rhondella Richardson reported that nine of the additional names are individuals of Chinese origin but there is little background information on them.
Unlike the last round of names, which included four Chinese nationals and two Iraqis, these came with no photographs. But just as it did earlier in the week, the FBI is stressing there's still no credible evidence of a terror plot.
In the city, vehicles continued to be searched at underground parking garages Thursday as the FBI, in posting the 10 new names on its Web site, does have something more in the way of motive.
The unidentified caller from Mexico who prompted the investigation Wednesday also mentioned the name of a man under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Investigators reportedly suspect that the tipster was wronged in either a smuggling or drug operation and is seeking revenge. There is speculation that the caller from Mexico prompted a terror threat to put heat on the individuals he named.
"If I were to speculate in this wide range of speculation -- could it be a hoax? Certainly. That is a possibility," U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said.
Sullivan said officials are still searching for the original four Chinese nationals for questioning.
"In terms of the whereabouts of the four individuals, we are not certain where they are. We can't say for certain that they are in the country. We do have an interest in identifying them, locating them and questioning them. They are not wanted at this point in time for any crimes. There is no evidence at this point in time that they committed any crimes," Sullivan said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at (617) 742-5533.
Previous Stories:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7388563
MIM: According to this Reuters report 10 names have been added to the list with 9 Chinese nationals now being sought and one man of 'unknown origin'.
BOSTON (Reuters) - The FBI added 10 names to a list of four Chinese nationals it is seeking to question in connection with an unspecified potential threat to the city of Boston, an official with the bureau said on Thursday.
"It's the same story with just 10 new names and we're not elaborating other than the names were developed through investigation. We're not elaborating on exactly where the names came from," said the FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The new names on the FBI list included five people holding Chinese passports. The FBI said that like the four names released on Wednesday, none of the 10 new ones appeared previously on any kind of watch list.
Wary Bostonians went about their business on Thursday as a murky threat of a "dirty bomb" attack hung over the city, and the FBI, while playing down the threat, sought four Chinese nationals for questioning about an unconfirmed security threat.
Boston newspapers reported on Thursday that authorities were also seeking two Iraqis said to be planning to blow up a crude radiological device in Boston.
The reports of a possible plot emerged as Americans marked the inauguration of George W. Bush in Washington for his second term as U.S. president.
A spokeswoman for the Boston bureau of the FBI declined to comment on whether police were also seeking two Iraqis.
Michael Sullivan, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, said there was no cause for panic and noted the FBI search stemmed from an uncorroborated, anonymous tip that the four individuals whose names and photos were released on Wednesday had been smuggled into the United States.
He said authorities still wanted to question the four, but noted there was no evidence they had committed a crime.
"We're not certain exactly where they are. We can't even say for certain that they're in the country," he told reporters. He also refused to rule out the possibility the whole affair was a hoax.
MORE THAN JUST ROUTINE?
Two federal law enforcement officials expressed surprise the information had received such attention. "The law enforcement community routinely receives these kinds of reports," said one Homeland Security official.
Boston-area residents expressed confusion over the degree of threat, noting federal officials appeared to have downplayed the reports when they emerged on Wednesday afternoon -- only to turn around and release names and photographs later in the day.
"My question is why do they have pictures of these people if they aren't on a watch list? There must be some reason why the government has these pictures on file," Marisol Lopez, 34, told a reporter in a Boston bagel shop.
"Sure, it's scary, I don't know if it's true, but I'm concerned," added Mary Ellen Blythe, 37.
Others expressed little concern and said they had grown weary of all the seemingly false warnings issued after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"I'm skeptical about this, it's not the first warning since 9/11. Maybe it's just hype, I think it's been done before," said Brian Hayes, 28.
Donna Martelli, 53, said Boston's wintry streets were the real immediate threat. "I'm more concerned about slipping on the snow right now," she said. (Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen, Deborah Charles, Mark Wilkinson, and Daisuke Wakabayashi)
------------------------------------------
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7375353
By Daisuke Wakabayashi
BOSTON (Reuters) - The FBI is seeking to question four Chinese nationals amid unconfirmed reports that they are headed to Boston as part of a possible "dirty bomb" plot, authorities said on Wednesday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. prosecutors in Boston released photographs of four Chinese nationals identified as Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen and Guozhi Lin, and said the four individuals were being sought in connection with an unspecified, uncorroborated threat.
"Information was received by federal law enforcement in Boston today originating from an unknown and uncorroborated source regarding an unspecified potential threat," federal prosecutors and the FBI said in a joint statement.
"There is no further specific information regarding the City of Boston nor is there any degree of specificity on the type of potential threat," the statement said. "As is done whenever we receive this type of information, all appropriate investigative steps are taken."
None of the individuals' names had previously appeared on any kind of "watch list," the statement said.
Authorities first learned of the potential threat from an anonymous tip, Boston Mayor Tom Menino told reporters.
Although not confirmed, the information in the tip was serious enough to prompt Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to cut short his visit to Washington, where he had been due to attend President Bush's inauguration on Thursday.
Romney told reporters in Washington he had decided to return to reassure Massachusetts residents that it was safe to be at home. He said the four individuals being sought were not thought to be in Massachusetts but may be headed there.
"It (the threat) is specific in that it mentions a location where the individuals were dropped off. That location is New York. It identifies also a location where a threat might be directed and that location is Boston," Romney said.
The release of the photographs came after ABC News reported on Wednesday that teams equipped with radiological sensors were patrolling Boston amid a possible "dirty bomb" threat.
Boston FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said she was not aware of such patrols, and that the information used in the report was not corroborated. She added that the FBI routinely receives such reports and investigates them.
Menino reiterated that there was no evidence of a "dirty bomb" plot in Boston.
Witnesses in downtown Boston reported few if any signs of heightened police presence on city streets, although one witness said a train conductor on the city's subway system urged commuters to be vigilant and report any suspicious packages.
(Additional reporting by Caroline Drees, Jim Vicini and Deborah Charles in Washington and Greg Frost in Boston)
--------------------------
FBI launches search for six alleged dirty bomb plotters
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10688645.htm
BOSTON - The FBI launched a massive hunt Wednesday for six people, four Chinese scientists and two Iraqis, said to be planning to detonate a "dirty bomb" in Boston, public safety officials said.
An anonymous tipster told authorities that the six sneaked into the United States from Mexico and were headed to New York and then to Boston, where they intended to launch an attack that could involve a lethal radioactive material, several officials briefed on the threat said.
The threat was reported to a California police department by someone in Mexico who said he had smuggled the suspects across the border, the officials said. The FBI had not corroborated the information as of Wednesday night, and officials expressed skepticism about the credibility of the tip, saying the names of the suspects had been run through all available databases of criminals and nothing had come up.
"What we're trying to do is reassure the public that there's no reason to panic, because the information has come from an unknown source, and none of the information has been corroborated," U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said Wednesday. "At the same time, we have to do our diligence."
Sullivan said officials had decided to release the names and photos of the four Chinese nationals -- Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen, and Guozhi Lin -- because they believe that the public could help investigators find the two men and two women.
The information about the four was all that the tipster provided, public-safety officials said. The tipster gave no identifying information about the Iraqis, authorities said.
Federal law enforcement officials said they were not raising the terror-alert status in Boston.
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Wednesday evening that the four were believed to have been "dropped off" in New York and may have been heading to Boston, but that none was believed to be in Massachusetts as of Wednesday evening.
Media coverage of the reported threats prompted Romney, who was in Washington to attend today's inauguration of President Bush, to return to Massachusetts. He said he wanted "to assure people that it's safe to be in Boston."
The New York Times contributed to this report
-------------------------------------------
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/21498.htm
FBI RACE TO NAB 'DIRTY' 4
By MURRAY WEISS and ANDY SOLTIS
Four Chinese nationals — described as possible terror suspects who passed through New York — are being hunted in connection with a potential "dirty bomb" attack in Boston, the FBI said yesterday. The Boston Herald reported that the Chinese were involved with two Iraqis — but Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
said he had no information about that. The search for the four began after an anonymous caller claimed the two men and two women were smuggled into the United States from Mexico and are headed for Boston, law-enforcement sources said.
Federal officials gave few details, but FBI spokeswoman Nenette Day said, "I can confirm that we are investigating it aggressively."
Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts released the names and photographs of the four and said they were wanted for questioning in connection with "an unspecified potential threat to the city of Boston."
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said authorities were taking the threat very seriously.
The threat "mentions a location where the individuals were dropped off. That location is New York," Romney said.
"It identifies also a location where a threat might be directed, and that location is Boston."
Mayor Bloomberg said that New York's Joint Terrorism Task Force had been briefed, but added that "they do not see any threat to New York City."
The alarm began when San Diego cops got a call from a tipster in Mexico who said the quartet had come across the border and were headed for Boston with a specific chemical, sources said.
The caller also said the four would be dropped off in New York before heading to Boston.
The caller told cops to meet him — but when police showed up, all they found were photos of the four Chinese, along with their names, sources said.
The information was passed to California state police and then the FBI, prompting concern among law-enforcement officials coast to coast.
Massachusetts authorities do not believe the individuals — identified as Guhzhi Lin, Zengrong Lin, Xiujin Chen and Wen Quin Zhen — have arrived in the state, Romney said.
The release of the photographs came after ABC News reported that teams equipped with radiological sensors were patrolling Boston amid a possible "dirty bomb" threat.
Boston FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said that she was not aware of such patrols, and that the information used in the report was not corroborated.
None of the four is listed on any "watch list," authorities said.
The alert level in Boston, set by the Department of Homeland Security, was not increased from "yellow," or elevated, the FBI said.
Menino said there were no new developments in the bizarre case.
"We have no information on dirty bombs," he said. "We have no information at this time that's confirmed by reliable sources."
------------------------------ http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/01/20/national0517EST0446.DTL DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
(01-20) 08:14 PST BOSTON (AP)
Authorities launched a manhunt across the Northeast for four Chinese nationals and two Iraqis described by the FBI as potential terror suspects who may be heading for Boston.
Authorities insisted that there was no confirmed threat.
Federal law enforcement officials said they had received a tip Wednesday about an unspecified threat against Boston, and released photographs of the two Chinese men and two women they were seeking. A Transportation Security Administration official said a security briefing indicated the FBI also was looking for two Iraqis.
The governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire decided to skip President Bush's inauguration Thursday and returned to their states from Washington.
"To assure the people of Boston and Massachusetts that it is safe to be at home, I am going to be sleeping in my bed in Massachusetts tonight and I feel perfectly safe doing so," said Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "In the very remote circumstance that my attention is needed, I will be able to respond on an immediate basis."
The news of the FBI search quickly ballooned into a frenzy of media reports that the suspects planned a radiological "dirty bomb" attack in Boston. But authorities stressed the sketchiness of the information they received.
A federal law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the uncorroborated tip was received by the California Highway Patrol. The tipster claimed the men were awaiting a shipment of "nuclear oxide" that would follow them from Mexico to Boston, the source said.
While the term implied some form of nuclear device, such as a "dirty bomb," there is no such material as "nuclear oxide," giving officials yet another reason to question the veracity of the tip, the source said.
Andrew Card, Bush's chief of staff, told reporters Wednesday night that he considered the threat to be based on "sketchy intelligence."
Bruce Cheney, director of New Hampshire Emergency Services, said Massachusetts authorities asked his agency to be ready with radiological testing technicians in case Massachusetts needed them.
"Based on the information we have received from federal officials, it does not appear that there is any cause for alarm," New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said. "The tip received by the FBI is unconfirmed and uncorroborated."
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Kenneth Kaiser, special agent in charge of the Boston FBI office, identified the Chinese nationals as Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen, Guozhi Lin.
Authorities said none of the names had appeared on previous watch lists of terror suspects, and their whereabouts weren't immediately known.
Although federal officials did not give out any information on the two Iraqis, George Nacarra, the Northeast area director for the Transportation Security Administration, said they were mentioned by the FBI during a security briefing Wednesday.
"It was nothing more than they were on the lookout for six people, and two of them were Iraqis," said Nacarra.
Another federal law enforcement official in Washington, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FBI's joint terrorism task force has not yet corroborated a tip that the suspects entered the United States through Mexico in recent days, possibly bound for Boston.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino, at a news conference, said there was "a lot of misinformation out there," adding there was no credible basis for those reports. Associated Press writer Curt Anderson in Washington contributed to this report. ----------------------------------------------- http://www.wfsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2837257 1/20/05 FBI continues to investigate possible terror suspects BOSTON (AP) - The FBI continues to investigate a tip that six potential terror suspects may be planning an attack against Boston. And while there are visible signs of increased security across the city, officials are trying to assure the public that there is no confirmed threat. Authorities are searching for four named Chinese nationals and two Iraqis. The identities of the Iraqis are not known. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card says he discussed the issue with President Bush before his inauguration today. Card did not provide details on what was said. U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan is denying reports that authorities had intercepted cellphone calls between the four Chinese nationals that confirmed the original tip. Across Boston, there are signs of stepped-up security, including some underground parking garages searching vehicles as they entered. -------------------------- http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=54&u_sid=1341155
Terror frauds become new homeland menace The tips were frightening and very specific: Six people smuggled in from Mexico were seeking nuclear material for an attack on Boston; a Canadian al-Qaida cell planned to bomb a Los Angeles shopping mall; a terrorist sought to blow up a New Jersey bridge. Each one set off intensive and costly investigations. Each one caused some measure of public alarm. But each one, according to authorities, turned out to be nothing more than a tipster inventing a terrorist threat to get revenge on an adversary. The allegation this month that a 34-year-old Mexican man named Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinonez made up the Boston threat to get back at associates in a smuggling ring highlighted what has become a major problem for law enforcement agencies. "It's new in the terrorism context that people are using more extreme types of hoaxes to get revenge," said Bryan Sierra, a spokesman for the Department of Justice in Washington. "They're exploiting the concerns of a terrorist attack." The people behind such false claims are a varied bunch: the jilted lover, the motorist angered by a car accident, the vindictive mother, the boyfriend cheated out of money. Falsely accusing someone of a crime out of a vendetta is hardly new. But Sierra said it appears to be a new phenomenon since 9/11 that people are making up large-scale terrorist plots "simply for getting somebody back." Officials at the Justice Department and the FBI said they don't compile statistics on the number of false terrorism claims born out of grudges, but there has been a number of such cases throughout the country, including many that are resolved without being made public. In one case, an anonymous letter was sent to Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force in June 2003 accusing two Pakistani men in the Worcester area of being al-Qaida operatives, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ricciuti, chief of the terrorism and national security unit in the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts. Investigators determined that the charges were false, but one of the men was embroiled in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Radica Taufeeque, Ricciuti said. Taufeeque was investigated, but never charged with making the false report, though she pleaded guilty to separate immigration violations. Last summer, after a Mexican man was involved in a car crash in San Diego, he contacted the FBI and accused the other driver of being a terrorist planning an attack at the Mexican border. The tipster was convicted of making a false statement to the FBI and sentenced to a year in jail. A Canadian man admitted that after his ex-girlfriend refused to pay back $4,000, he called in a false tip to the Department of Homeland Security last April alleging that she and three of her friends were members of an al-Qaida cell and were planning to bomb a West Los Angeles shopping mall. The man is awaiting sentencing next month. Joe Parris, a supervisory special agent for the FBI in Washington, said every time someone intentionally provides false information, it pulls investigators away from real threats. "Each instance of this is a problem," Paris said. "It is tying up resources and alarming the public." It's hard to say how much time and money Massachusetts spent in response to Beltran's claim on Jan. 17 that four Chinese nationals and two Iraqis were planning an attack on Boston, said Katie Ford, a spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Public Safety. But Ford said an emergency bunker, staffed around the clock by nine public safety and law enforcement agencies, ran from Jan. 19 until Jan. 21. She said officials were more concerned about the effect the false alarm had on the public. "Every time one of these threats turns out to be a hoax . . . that is potentially a count against us in the whole crying-wolf category," Ford said. This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/387
Thursday, January 20, 2005
THE BOSTON GLOBE