All 11 Egyptian students are now in custody, which brings to a close a most peculiar situation. The 11 students entered the US on student visas as part of a group of 17 students. Only six ended up at the college where all were supposed to arrive in Montana.
The 11 students were picked up all over the US, having split up into smaller groups.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Mohamed Saleh Ahmed Maray, 20, and Mohamed Ibrahim Fouaad El Shenawy, 17, at an apartment building in Richmond on Sunday night. Virginia State Police and the Richmond Police helped locate the students.I find it highly implausible that the 11 Egyptian men were simply going to waltz around the country as tourists on a student visa. They appear to have fanned out throughout the country, and had no interest in attending the college. As far as we know, these 11 made no attempt to contact the college to say that they were not going to attend the school, nor do the reports indicate that they were trying to remain in contact with each other. Was this a test run to see whether other groups of individuals could enter the US on student visas, and begin their terror preperations once inside the US? I don't know, but the FBI seems to think that this group didn't pose a terror risk. I'm going to say that this remains a highly curious situation that deserves further review.
Last Wednesday, one of the Egyptian students was arrested in Minneapolis and two were detained in Manville, N.J. On Thursday, two were arrested in Dundalk, Md., and one was arrested at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. Three more were arrested Friday in Des Moines, Iowa.
The students were to attend a monthlong program at Montana State University in Bozeman, Mont. A group of 17 students arrived in New York on July 29. Six reported to Bozeman on time.
Cellphone Incident Grows Curiouser and Curiouser
Last week, we were treated to several incidents where groups of Middle Eastern men were arrested after being found to possess hundreds of cellphones. Well, now we learn that one of these groups may have been planning to attack the Mackinac Straits Bridge between Upper and Lower Michigan.
Now, these two incidents may have absolutely nothing in common with each other, and just happen to have happened within days of each other, or maybe there is some connection between the students gone missing and the cellphone caper.
Federal authorities helped with the investigation into a possible terror threat to the Mackinac Bridge. The FBI office in Detroit worked with local law enforcement authorities before the police arrested three men in Caro on Friday. Officers found about 1,000 pre-paid cell phones in their van. Police in Caro arrested the three Palestinian-American men after they allegedly bought 80 of the phones at a Wal-Mart store in Caro.
A pre-paid cell phone can be economical and convenient. But, 22 year old Adham Othman, 23 year old Louai Othman, and 19 year old Maruwan Muhareb aroused suspicion when they allegedly bought 80 phones at the same time. Caro Police Chief Ben Page said they thought “something was wrong here."
When police pulled the men over, they found about 1,000 phones in the van. Many were separated from their battery packs and the chargers were discarded. Michigan State Police Trooper Patrick Sharkey says, “We didn't know exactly what was going on. You hear on the news about these phones being used to detonate IED's."
What both incidents show is that people have to remain vigilant throughout the country to threats and situations that appear out of normal.
No comments:
Post a Comment