Saturday, January 22, 2005
BOSTON - One of the 13 Chinese nationals allegedly involved in a terror plot
against Boston was in custody and being questioned by authorities on
Saturday, FBI sources told FOX News.
Authorities were interrogating Mei Xia Dong about her involvement in a
possible terrorist plot (search) against Boston that was made public in an
FBI report Friday. Airport and transit authorities responded to the report
by boosting security - adding patrols, activating radiation detectors and
posting pictures of some of the suspects.
FBI agents were looking into an uncorroborated tip that 16 people - 13
Chinese nationals, two Iraqis and one other person whose nationality was not
released - might be planning an attack.
The agency announced Wednesday that it was investigating four Chinese
nationals, and a Transportation Security Administration (search) official
said later that a security briefing indicated the FBI also was looking for
two Iraqis. The number jumped by 10 Thursday "as a result of the ongoing
investigation" but did not signal that credible evidence about a plot had
emerged, FBI spokesman Joe Parris said.
The 14th person was identified on the FBI's Web site as Jose Ernesto Beltran
Quinones, but his nationality was not given.
"Information is still uncorroborated and from a source of unknown
reliability and motive," Parris said.
Another federal law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on
condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the tip
was received by the California Highway Patrol (search). The tipster claimed
the four Chinese - two men and two women - entered the United States from
Mexico and were awaiting a shipment of "nuclear oxide" that would follow
them to Boston.
Several radioactive compounds take form as oxides and could be used in a
dirty bomb, expert Charles Ferguson said. Plutonium and americium oxides, in
the right amounts, would be dangerous to human health, while uranium oxide
would be less so, he said.
"They vary in potency," said Ferguson, science and technology fellow at the
Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "If it was plutonium, we could
have a problem on our hands."
At Logan Airport, where two of the planes were hijacked for the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, the tip was being taken seriously, according to Dennis
Treece, director of corporate security. The most visible sign was more
patrols.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the city's transit agency,
also increased security and activated radiation detectors in response to the
threat, said Deputy Chief John Martrino. He said the detectors are put in
use whenever the city is on higher-than-normal security alert.
Pictures of four Chinese suspects released by the FBI were taped inside
booths where subway tokens are sold by transit employees, and operators of
underground parking garages started searching vehicles. Dong, the suspect in
custody, was not one of the four in the pictures released by the FBI.
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