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FBI detains 7 in domestic terror probe
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| FBI detains 7 in domestic terror probe
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| NC-Stern-Mark |
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Sources: Targets may have included Sears Tower, FBI building
Thursday, June 22, 2006; Posted: 10:23 p.m. EDT (02:23 GMT)
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Seven people are in custody after a sweep by law enforcement authorities in connection with an alleged plot against targets that may have included the Sears Tower, officials told CNN on Thursday.
Officials said no weapons or bomb-making materials had been found in the searches in the Miami area by FBI and state and local law enforcement officials. The city is under no imminent threat, according to the FBI.
Law enforcement sources told CNN that the arrests disrupted what may have been the early stages of a domestic terrorist plot to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, the FBI building in Miami, and possibly other targets. (Watch details of the raids -- 2:53)
The 110-story Sears Tower is the world's third-tallest building and the tallest in North America.
Barbara Carley, managing director of the Sears Tower, said in a statement that "it would be inappropriate for us to confirm or deny details of news reports about federal law enforcement action before an official statement from the Justice Department.
"However, Sears Tower security officials regularly speak with the FBI and local law enforcement authorities who track and investigate terrorism threats. Today was no exception," she said. "Despite new information, law enforcement continues to tell us that they have never found evidence of a credible terrorism threat against Sears Tower that has gone beyond criminal discussions."
Law enforcement sources told CNN that some of the suspects are members of a radical African-American Muslim group and that at least one had taken "an al Qaeda oath." They had carried out surveillance on the Sears Tower and FBI building in Miami, the sources said.
Sources told CNN that the arrests culminated a monthslong undercover operation. The suspects believed they were dealing with an al Qaeda operative, but the person was actually a government informant, the sources said.
Documents related to the investigation have been sealed.
One of the arrests was made before Thursday, officials said.
A spokeswoman for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said the mayor was notified of the raid earlier in the day, and a spokesman for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the governor had been notified Thursday morning.
Both Alvarez and Bush said they had no plans to tighten security.
"If anything, this is a plot foiled," Alvarez spokeswoman Vicki Mallette said.
Plans for a massive rally Friday in the city for the Miami Heat, the new National Basketball Association champions, are unchanged, she said, adding that 200,000 people were expected to attend.
The FBI said one search warrant was executed in a warehouse near a housing project in Liberty City, a predominantly black and low-income area of Miami.
Cedric Thomas, a co-owner of Thomas Produce Market, told the Miami Herald that the area around his store was teeming with federal agents.
''There is a ton of guys in uniforms moving around, blocking the streets. I'm not sure what they are doing,'' Thomas told the newspaper.
Residents living near the warehouse told The Associated Press that the men taken into custody called themselves Muslims and had tried to recruit young people.
The men slept in the warehouse, Tashawn Rose, 29, told the AP.
"They would come out late at night and exercise," she said. "It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard."
The residents told the AP that FBI agents spent several hours seeking information from people in the neighborhood. They said the suspects, who appeared to be in their teens or 20s, had lived in the area for about a year, the AP reported.
"We are conducting a number of arrests and searches, and we'll have more about that when the operation is completed, probably tomorrow morning," FBI Director Robert Mueller told CNN's Larry King in an interview broadcast Thursday night.
"Because it's an ongoing operation, we really can't get into details," Mueller said. "But whenever we undertake an operation like this, we would not do it without the approval of a judge. We've got search warrants and arrest warrants and the like. ...."
In a statement, the U.S. attorney's office in Miami said federal, state and local agencies made the arrests in connection with a domestic "terrorist-related matter."
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will hold a news conference Friday regarding the raids. |
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| Crazytree |
| wonder if they caught these guys RED-HANDED with cigarette lighters like the guys in Canada. |
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| NC-Stern-Mark |
Quote: Originally posted by Crazytree
wonder if they caught these guys RED-HANDED with cigarette lighters like the guys in Canada. |
Ya know, You got me starting to wonder about things like this. |
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| JTProcess |
| I don't doubt they were up to something... but it is kind of funny how all this stuff starts happening right before an election season. |
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| Stickman |
And Larry Silverstein holds the lease on the Sears Tower, as he does on the WTC? Wow, what a coincidence.
He must have done an asbestos study on the Sears and figured he could have it demolished and rebuilt for less than it would cost to repair it. Pure speculation of course.
Calling all CTs (coincidence theorists). |
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| chicagoirishtim |
| This is great news, maybe the CIA and FBI have goten their shit together |
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| WillowGlen |
| In two weeks Cheney will be on Meet the press claiming these guys had "ties to terrorists in Iran". |
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| thrillermiller |
Quote: Originally posted by JTProcess
I don't doubt they were up to something... but it is kind of funny how all this stuff starts happening right before an election season. |
No shit. especially after the announcement of a government project that has been sifting through innocent people's bank records. It's like they are saying "look it works. We caught some terrorists" Meanwhile it sounds like all they caught were some Rasta morons. |
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| Oz |
| yeah - the news reports coming out these guys didn't even have ties to Al-qaeda - bunch of dopes living in Richard Christy's old warehouse room that had delusions based on what an informant told them he could do for them - booooring |
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| Crazytree |
| wait I thought we were fighting them OVER THERE so we didn't have to fight them OVER HERE? |
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| thoroldjames |
Quote: Originally posted by Crazytree
wonder if they caught these guys RED-HANDED with cigarette lighters like the guys in Canada. |
give me a break, they had cell phones as well :D
seems fishy right at election time doesn't it? |
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