Phoning It In

Three men were arrested with more than 1,000 cellphones in their possession. Their behavior, which involved purchasing 80 Nokia TracFones at a Wal-Mart in Michigan caught the attention of the cashier, and lo and behold, the three men were arrested, and their vehicle had more than 1,000 cellphones.

The men have been "cooperative, upfront, not hiding" anything according to police. They also told officers they get stopped frequently and say they buy the phones for $20 and sell them elsewhere for $38. They sell them without the packaging or charger.

The Caro Police Department, the FBI and the Homeland Security Terrorism Taskforce are involved in the case.

The Caro Police Department is holding the suspects property while awaiting arrival of the FBI. FBI wants to talk to the three men who are not in custody.

The report indicates that the three men are described as being naturalized US citizens of Palestinian descent living in Texas and are between 19 and 23 years old.

Meanwhile, in West Virginia two other men were caught with between 150-200 cellphones in similar circumstances. But that's where things get curious:

Last week, the Grafton police pulled over 24-year-old Hashem Sayed for a routine traffic stop. But what they found in his car was far from routine. Patrolman Daniel Laymon recalls the scene, "There were multiple cell phones, roughly 150 to 200 cell phones from multiple retailers," he said.

Buying that many pre-paid phones is not a crime, but the police say it is unusual.

Less than a week later, the authorities in Marietta, Ohio, arrested 20-year-old Osma Sabhi Abulhassan and 20-year-old Ali Houssaiky. Washington County Sheriffs deputies seized several pre-paid cell phones and thousands of dollars in cash. Because of the incidents, Grafton police believe the events are connected.

"The department feels that there are a lot of similar circumstances and there are a lot of similarities between the activity there and the activity experienced here," said Patrolman Laymon.

The activity seems to be more than just a coincidence. All three men are from Dearborn, Michigan and all three gave similar reasons for buying the phones. Sayed said he was buying them to ship to California to sell for a profit. But Washington County's sheriff says that may not be the whole truth. "They are digital for detonating car bombs and they have a particular digital frequency and that's what they're using them for," said Sheriff Larry Mincks.

Mincks says the men also had instructions on how to obtain private flights and airplane passenger information.

Michelle Malkin has more details on the duo from Dearborn, Michigan. This group was busy purchasing the phones at Wal Marts between Michigan and North Carolina.

Others noting this most curious situation: AJ Strata, It Shines For All, and Tel-Chai Nation.