Tel-Chai Nation

And we owe many thanks to the brave citizens who showed the courage to alert the authorities about these suspicious characters. Here's another eyebrow-raising report from WZZM13 (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin):

Three Texas men suspected of targeting the Mackinac Bridge remained in jail Sunday on two terrorism charges as prosecutors set a pre-trial court hearing for Friday, police said.

Prosecutors arraigned the three Texas men Saturday in Caro on felony terrorism charges after police found about 1,000 cell phones in their van in the state's Thumb area.

Maruan Muhareb, 18, Adham Othman, 21, and Louai Othman, 23, were charged by Tuscola County prosecutors with providing material support for terrorist acts and terrorism surveillance of a vulnerable target, said Sgt. Curtis Chambers of the Tuscola County Sheriff's Department. They were each being held on $750,000 bond.

Investigators said they were concerned that the men could be targeting the landmark bridge that connects Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas, said Cpl. Mark House of the sheriff's department. He declined to elaborate.

In recent months, federal investigators have worried about men buying up large numbers of cell phones, which police said could be used to detonate bombs in terrorist acts.

The three men were arrested early Friday morning after they bought 80 Nokia Tracfones at a Wal-Mart in Caro. The store has a policy of selling only three Tracfones at a time, but the men convinced the clerk to ring up 80 phones, three at a time. They paid for the phones with cash including in $100 bills.

[...]

Police found about 1,000 cell phones in the van. They also found receipts indicating that other phones were bought in Wisconsin the day before.

Police also noted that the men had thrown away many of the phone chargers, indicating that they may have intended to send the phones out of the country because different outlets are used overseas. There were about 120 phones packed per box in their van, police said.

The three told police they were buying the phones to sell them to another man, who might send them to foreign countries.

Police Lt. Shannon Greenhaw of Mesquite, Texas, said at least one of the men had an address in Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas. She did not know if all three lived there.

[...]

The Texas men also are of Arab descent, with Palestinian ancestry, police said.

Let's be clear here: if people come along and act suspiciously, as in cases like this one here, don't be afraid to alert the police so they can investigate. And certainly don't be afraid of possible CAIR temper tantrums and whining. To prevent dangerous crimes from being committed, we cannot allow "hurt feelings" to get in the way of law enforcement and justice.

Update: here's another report on two more suspects being sought in Tuscon, Arizona who made similar tracphone purchases (Hat tip: Debbie Schlussel).

Others on the subject include It Shines for All, Strategic Outlook Institute, Right Minded, Old War Dogs, Coalition of the Swilling, Two Babes and a Brain, American Traditionalist, ProCynic, Toadpond, Hillbilly White Trash.

Labels: anti-americanism, islam, michigan, United States