The Command Post
Global War on Terror
January 19, 2005
Terror Threat Probe in Boston [Updated -4-]

The original Drudge headline said "search on for dirty bomb." It's since changed and this story appears above the fold:

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has partially activated its emergency response team this afternoon after the FBI triggered a massive manhunt yesterday for six people who may pose a terrorist threat to the city of Boston. Public safety officials are now holed up in the emergency bunker in Framingham until the threat has passed.... Developing.
The linked story says this:
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has been placed on standby, and public safety officials are meeting at the bunker, according to a published report Wednesday.

There have been reports that the FBI office in Boston received a call from an FBI office in California warning officials about a suspicious person that may be in the area, according to the Boston Herald's Web site.

No specific threats have been confirmed, but FBI agents in Boston have been put on alert, and officials started to gather at MEMA at about 1:30 p.m.

NewsCenter 5 and TheBostonChannel.com will have more information as it becomes available.

This one is a bit more specific:

Boston terror threat probed
Federal and state authorities are investigating a nuclear terrorist threat against Boston after a man calling from Mexico told California police that he smuggled two Iraqis and four Chinese over the border, the Boston Herald has learned.
``They got a call from across the border in Mexico to the California Highway Patrol and he said he brought two Iraqis and four Chineses (individuals)across the border and according to him, they stated soon to follow behind them would be some sort of material,'' said a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. ``He refers to some sort of nuclear material that will follow them through New York up into Boston.''
According to the source, the caller has not identified himself and did not show up for a meeting with federal investigators in California but he did leave pictures of four Chinese men and some names at a ``drop'' site at the Mexico-California border.
``They were dropped by the source at a location. He literally threw them over a fence from Mexico to the U.S. side,'' said the source. ``There are pictures of the four Chinese and some names but just how accurate they are remains a question''

More here:

"There is no specific threat or target indicated."

More at Boston.com

Update: Fox has finally picked up the story:

Boston on Alert for Four Terror Suspects

The FBI notified area law enforcement Wednesday to be on the lookout for four possible terror suspects who may be headed to Boston. 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.

Update: This story says they are searching for six men, not four.

Posted by Michele at January 19, 2005 04:30 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Okay...let's say for the moment that this thing is REAL and not some nutcase making a crank call to the CHP. Let's say that 6 men were smuggled across the Mexican border just like however many hundred or thousand everyday. According to the President's Immigration\Amnesty plan these 6 people should be allowed to stay right? I mean they came from Mexico, I'm sure El Presidente' Fox would agree that they should stay.

Oh wait...they aren't working in a job that an American won't do...in that case...sick the dogs on them.

While I wait for folks to recover from my first slam against President Bush let me say that I'm still alittle skeptical about this. The Disaster and Emergency Management folks in Massachussetts MUST act on this and do what they are doing...but something just doesn't smell right about it to me.

I pray I'm right. If I'm not and these barbarians do something stupid I hope they escape....in the back of a Chinook helo to an "undisclosed location" for a heartfelt "chat" with some of America's finest.

Posted by: Wayne Fielder [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 19, 2005 09:49 PM

Actually this is a realistic threat scenario. Detonate a "dirty bomb" from the interior by terrorist cell that infiltrated our porous border.

Better move would to target West Coast target of strategic economic interest e.g. Port of Long Beach.

Read More

Posted by: Ron Wrght [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 20, 2005 07:11 PM

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