FBI hunts Chinese 'terror gang' : 'Dirty' Bomb Threat to Boston

[Bavarias_Finest]

FBI hunts Chinese 'terror gang'
The four Chinese nationals were thought to be heading to Boston
The FBI wants to question four Chinese nationals amid fears of a plot to explode a "dirty bomb" in Boston.

Police and FBI agents in Massachusetts were issued with photographs of two men and two women wanted in connection with an "unspecified threat".

Earlier on Wednesday US TV networks reported that agents with radiological sensors were on patrol Boston.

The FBI and city officials in Boston played down fears, saying reports of a dirty bomb were "uncorroborated".

The four Chinese were named as Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen and Guozhi Lin.

None of the four were understood to have appeared on FBI "watch lists".

The FBI issued a statement acknowledging that an "unspecified" threat had been received, adding that the information came from "an unknown and uncorroborated source regarding an unspecified potential threat".

Extra vigilance

Earlier, CNN reported that the group were smuggled over the border from Mexico and planned to receive some unspecified dangerous materials.

Despite the FBI's caution, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney returned to Boston from Washington DC, where he had travelled to attend President George W Bush's inauguration on Thursday.

Mr Romney said there did not think the four Chinese nationals were in Massachusetts, but said officials suspected they could be on their way to the state.

"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," Mr Romney said.

More staff would be placed on duty at the state emergency bunker, but said that Massachusetts' terror alert level would not be raised, he added.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40740000/jpg/_40740035_chinese_montage203_ap.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4190159.stm

[Chicago]

They're clearly pissed off about their hair. Book the salon and all will be well.

[zartan]

this is a classic sentence:

The FBI issued a statement acknowledging that an "unspecified" threat had been received, adding that the information came from "an unknown and uncorroborated source regarding an unspecified potential threat".

[BizarroCub]

:haha:

[Milkman John]

wait, is it the chinese or the two iraqis that came in with them that no one is really talking about

wtf...

this is weird

[zartan]

wait, is it the chinese or the two iraqis that came in with them that no one is really talking about

lets turn to the FBI to clarify your question:

an "unspecified" threat had been received, adding that the information came from "an unknown and uncorroborated source regarding an unspecified potential threat".

hope that answers you.

[Milkman John]

lets turn to the FBI to clarify your question:



hope that answers you.


i <3 teh fbi and their vague bs, but....

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=64303

Boston terror threat probed
By Tom Farmer and Michele McPhee
Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Authorities are scouring Boston for four Chinese nationals and two Iraqi men who may pose a nuclear threat to the city based on a report from an unidentified man calling from Mexico who claims to have smuggled them over the U.S. border.
``They got a call from across the border in Mexico to the California Highway Patrol several days ago, and he said he brought two Iraqis and four Chinese (individuals) across the border and according to him, they stated soon to follow behind them would be some sort of (nuclear) material,'' said a law enforcement source.
``He refers to some sort of nuclear material that will follow them through New York up into Boston.''
The threat was serious enough that Mayor Thomas M. Menino hunkered down with Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole and Fire Commissioner Paul Christian and the city's Homeland Security chief in his office at City Hall. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency also activated its bunker in Framingham with a downscaled staff.
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 and the names of two Chinese men and two Chinese women - reportedly chemists - at a ``drop'' site at the Mexico-California border. The information also makes reference to something happening ``within four days,'' said another law enforcement source.
Federal authorities in Boston identified the Chinese nationals being sought for questioning as Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen and Guozhi Lin. Sources said investigators have no information on the two Iraqis - including their gender.
Menino last night downplayed the threat, urging residents to partake in their normal activities. ``Public safety is our first priority,'' Menino said, while stressing the report fielded by the Boston Joint Terrorism Task Force came from a ``single anonymous source'' and has not been confirmed.
Gov. Mitt Romney [related, bio], in Washington, D.C., for President Bush's inauguration, planned to fly back to Massachusetts last night. ``We have had threats in the past. We take them seriously, even when they're not corroborated,'' he said.
White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card told the Herald last night that President Bush [related, bio] was informed of the uncorroborated Boston threat at his daily intelligence briefing yesterday morning.
``I'm shocked it made it into the newspaper because I don't think it is something that has been fully vetted,'' Card said. ``It was during the intelligence briefing . . . the president was given this sketchy intelligence. It was truly sketchy intelligence, but . . . anytime you hear the words that surround this kind of intelligence, it invites greater scrutiny.''
Attorney General Tom Reilly also downplayed the seriousness of the tip last night. ``We don't even know if these individuals are in the country,'' Reilly said, adding ``it's information that needs to be followed up.''
Sources said much of the man's information sounds far-fetched and investigators have some doubts about the caller's validity because he has not identified himself. ``A lot of it doesn't make sense and some of it does,'' said one source. ``It's totally uncorroborated. This all began several days ago as a series of phone calls and they don't know who the caller is. There are some parts of it that just don't make sense and other little pieces of it that fall into place.''
Another source said investigators have located an area along the U.S. border that matches the man's description of where he smuggled the six people across. ``They have corroborated the spot where he claims to have taken them over,'' said the source.
Multiple sources said there is speculation the caller may have been ripped off by the illegal aliens and is now trying to exact revenge.
``It's very weird. Even if (the Iraqis and Chinese) were going to do something, why would they be blabbing to the yahoo smuggling them across the border?'' one source noted. ``You have to wonder if they screwed him on a deal but you have to treat it seriously and the issue is how do you put it out to the public and not get everybody (in a panic)?''

[BizarroCub]

FBI: Boston terror plot 'a false alarm'
Revenge on Chinese immigrants cited as possible motive

Tuesday, January 25, 2005 Posted: 5:15 PM EST (2215 GMT)

BOSTON (AP) -- The FBI said Tuesday that the possible terrorist plot reported against Boston by a tipster last week was a false alarm.

"There were in fact no terrorist plans or activity under way," the FBI said in a statement. "Because the criminal investigation is ongoing, no further details can be provided at this time."

The man suspected of telling authorities about the possible terrorist threat was arrested Monday in a Mexican border town.

Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones was taken into custody Monday in Mexicali by Mexican state judicial police, Dan Dzwilewski, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Diego division, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Quinones, one of the 16 people sought for interrogation last week about the alleged terror plot, was being questioned on behalf of the FBI, special agent Kiffa Shirley told The Associated Press.

"The first area of concern for the FBI is to resolve any pending national security threat issues, and that issue being the statement that was made that nuclear material was being brought into the United States," Dzwilewski said. "We're working with Mexican authorities trying to resolve that question."

Shirley said late Monday he did not know Quinones' nationality, age or occupation, or where he was being questioned.

The FBI statement did not say whether he had provided the information that allowed the FBI to rule out the threat, but the bureau did thank Mexican law enforcement agencies for their help.

Officials have stressed since news of the tip first broke that they doubted the credibility of the terrorism claims.

A leading theory was that a smuggler tipped authorities to a false terrorism plot to exact revenge on a group of Chinese immigrants, perhaps because members failed to pay for being smuggled across the border.

The tipster claimed that 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.

No evidence was ever found for such a plot. Still, authorities stepped up security in Boston, and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney skipped President Bush's inauguration in Washington.

During the weekend, the FBI said another person who had been wanted for questioning in relation to the alleged plot had been in federal custody for more than two months and has no terrorist connections. She was identified as Mei Xia Dong, 21, of China.

The other people being sought included 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 terrorism motives has surfaced, as the tipster claimed.