CARO, Mich. - Three men were arrested Friday on charges of supporting
> terrorism after they purchased 80 prepaid mobile phones from a
> Wal-Mart store, police said.
> Police stopped the men's van about 1:30 a.m. and found nearly 1,000
> phones, most of which were prepaid TracFones, along with a laptop
> computer and a bag of receipts, Stevenson said.
> "The cell phones can be used as detonators. Batteries can be
> disassembled and used to make methamphetamine. Obviously there's
> something wrong here; they should stop selling these," Caro Police
> Chief Ben Page said.
> The men told police they were buying the phones, which cost about $20
> and come with a charger, taking them out of their packaging and
> selling them to a wholesaler in Texas for about $38 without the
> charger.
> The arrests in Caro, about 90 miles north of Detroit, come three days
> after two men were arrested in Marietta, Ohio, where police said they
> piqued suspicions when they acknowledged buying about 600 phones in
> recent months at stores in southeast Ohio.
Sure like to get some informed opinions about just what the h-ll is really going on here ... really bad actors? (i.e., terrorism effort) ... or just very weird? (buying "wholesale" at Walmart, selling for more "on the street") ... or something totally else???