Men Found With 1,000 Cell Phones Investigated
Clerk At Caro Wal-Mart Store Suspicious Of Purchase
POSTED: Friday, August 11, 2006
The FBI, Homeland Security and police are investigating a suspicious purchase of cell phones at a Wal-Mart in Caro, Mich.
Three men were arrested Friday on suspicion of buying more than 1,000 cell pones, Local 4 reported.
The Nokia Tracfones cost about $20, and customers receive a phone plus 40 minutes of airtime. Also, the phones do not have to be registered to a name, the station reported. These are the same type of phones connected to terror charges against two Dearborn men arrested in Ohio, according to the station's report.
Federal investigators are trying to determine if the men in Caro are linked to terrorism.
Wal-Mart has a limit of three on the number of Tracfones an individual can purchase, Local 4 reported. A clerk at the Caro store became suspicious when the three men bought 80 cell phones.
The men were apparently heading to Bad Axe and another Wal-Mart store when police located them. Police said two of the men were in the rear of a rented van cutting open the packages. They were putting the phones in one container and the batteries in another, Local 4 reported. In addition to the 1,000 cell phones, police also found a receipt that indicates they may have been in Wisconsin the day before.
Police said they also found in the van a laptop computer with store addresses and logos.
Police said the three men have been cooperative in the investigation. The suspects said their only market is buying phones for $20 and selling them for $38, Local 4 reported.
In the Ohio case, two 20-year-old men from Dearborn allegedly admitted to buying and selling 600 phones in recent months. They said it was to make money, but prosecutors filed terrorism charges against them and believe the men planned to ship the phones overseas.
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