Seas of David: Miami Group Busted in Sears Tower Terror Plot
by John Little on 22/06/2006||Scroll Down For Updates
Via CBS4 in Miami:
After an operation that started about four months ago, the FBI has arrested several suspects of domestic terrorism in a Miami low-income housing project.The arrests took place Thursday afternoon at the Scott Housing Projects in the area of NW 68th street and 15th Avenue. Miami Police officers were seen in the area securing a perimeter for the FBI to carry out their arrests.
Sources tell CBS4 News it is unclear whether weapons or bomb-making materials were found, but those detained are suspected of being involved in planning terrorist activity.
The Miami Herald has more:
FBI officials cordoned off an area in Liberty City on Thursday as part of what FBI Director Robert Mueller called a significant terror-related investigation.Mueller, appearing on CNN’s Larry King Live program, said he couldn’t comment extensively on the investigation, which he said involved both arrest warrants and search warrants.
About 20 FBI agents were on the scene at NW 15th Avenue, between 62nd and 63rd streets.
Authorities aren’t saying much except that the individuals arrested did not pose a threat to the Miami area. No other areas are at risk according to those involved.
It looks like we won’t get much information until Friday since the operation is being characterized as ongoing:
Miami U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta said in a statement that it was an ongoing operation and that more details would be released Friday. Local media was reporting that agents were raiding a warehouse in Miami’s Liberty City section.
Captain Ed speculates:
Domestic terrorism means that the threat involves American citizens. This could be militias, or perhaps enviromental or animal-rights nutcases. It could also have something to do with the Cuban community, but that sounds a bit far-fetched. However, one possibility is the Puerto Rican separatists.
WOW! this is sounding HUGE:
According to sources familiar with the investigation, the group allegedly planned to bomb the FBI building in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago.
The group has been under surveillance for some time and was infilitrated by a government informant who allegedly led them to believe he was an Islamic radical. The suspects are described as African Americans and at least one man of Caribbean descent.
Allah has also noticed that CNN is all over this story:
CNN is killing Fox on this, by the way. Nothing at all on FNC.
But with the Sears tower revelation, if accurate, ABC has the lead. That doesn’t go over too well at Speed of Thought though:
I don’t like the fact that ABC is telling us about this now, but I do like the fact that we are going to get these folks
Passionate America says:
We stopped them again…
That would seem to be the case.
They’re calling it homegrown terror but apparently these guys were lead to believe that they were helping a radical Islamic terrorist. That’s frightening.
Dan Riehl is plotting involved locations using MapQuest and Google. Very cool.
Bill Quick has a hunch:
Who could these people possibly be? What could conceivably motivate them?
Here’s a couple of wild-assed guesses: the “citizens” are either naturalized immigrants from the middle east, or part of the immediate families of same, and they share a particular set of religious beliefs that are Islamic in nature.
It’s just too early to tell but early reports seem to support that hunch. We’ll know soon.
CNN broadcast is reporting that one suspect took an “Al Qaeda Oath.” Bill’s hunch is sounding pretty solid. MSNBC has more info on the suspects:
The men — part of a radical Black Muslim group — were planning terror acts in Miami and Chicago, officials say. The planned targets were the Sears Tower in Chicago and a federal building in Miami.
Friday is going to be…interesting.
More on the suspects. They seemed to attract a lot of attention:
Residents near the warehouse said FBI agents spent several hours in the neighborhood showing photos of the suspects and seeking information. They said the men, who appeared to be in their teens or 20s, had lived in the area about a year.Tashawn Rose, 29, said they slept in the warehouse. “They would come out late at night and exercise. It seemed like a military boot camp that they were working on there. They would come out and stand guard.”
She talked to one of them about a month ago.
“They seemed brainwashed. They said they had given there lives to Allah,” Rose said.
She said they tried to recruit her younger brother and nephew for a karate class but it never happened.
“It was weird,” Rose said.
Benjamin Williams, 17, said the group had young children with them sometimes.
“We were under the assumption that they were opening up a garage business,” he said.
He said they wore normal clothes “but sometimes they would cover their faces. Sometimes they would wear things on their heads, like turbans.”
These guys weren’t very slick. Thank god.
Confederate Yankee is scanning the Democratic Underground for insanity…and finding it.
The tin-foil beanies are working overtime tonight:
And they just happened to arrest them today. Uh huh. What’s the matter? A good Orange Alert just doesn’t get out the vote like it used to?
Read the comments where you’ll learn that Karl Rove is behind this…of course.
Rob at Say Anything hopes the Bush administration doesn’t drop the ball on the communications side:
It will be interesting to find out how we got onto these guys. If the stuff the NSA is doing helped in any way it would be in the Bush administration’s best interest to make sure that fact gets out there front and center.
Not saying the NSA was involved, of course, but if they were I hope the guys in the White House play this right.
I’d say that’s a valid concern.
Another angle on this story – CNN broadcast is reporting that one of those arrested is an illegal alien on a visa overstay. I’m telling you Friday is going to be crazy.
Michelle Malkin isn’t surprised:
There have been several black Muslim jihadi plots and prosecutions before and after 9/11.
She reviews some recent cases to support her point.
The Florida Masochist shrugs and goes to bed:
I’m not going to speculate on what was going on in Miami. This news just broke in Miami and the MSM is rushing to find out why it went down. A law enforcement official? That could be the janitor at the FBI office for all we know. Why is the blogosphere so eager to rush in? Hasn’t AP blown it before? Anyone remember the coverage of New Orleans after Katrina?No rush here, I’m going to bed.
My bed was calling too but the corner coffee shop hooked me up with some juice so I might as well keep blogging…
A thank you from PartisanTimes.com:
Today, we owe a debt of gratitude to our intelligence agencies and federal agents. We should also be thankful that these homegrown Jihadists were absolute morons who never stood a chance of carrying out the attacks.
I’ll second that.
I’ll be liveblogging the various press conferences and other aspects of this story during the day Friday. I’m still monitoring it tonight though…
CNN is interviewing “Brother Corey” a member of this odd group. They call themselves the “Seas of David”. He isn’t making a whole lot of sense. “We ain’t not no terrorists…Yes we have soldiers in Chicago.” Just weird. He definitely dodged the reporter when he was asked if the group had any connection to Al Qaeda. My InstaVerdict? Guilty.
Friday’s events will be covered in a new post.
Also Blogging:
Instapundit
Little Green Footballs
Outside the Beltway
Wizbang!
The Moderate Voice
Stop the ACLU
The Uncooperative Blogger
Protein Wisdom
Macsmind
The Real Ugly American
Gateway Pundit
Sister Toldjah
Florida Cracker
The Politburo Diktat
My Right Wing Conspiracy
Hugh Hewitt
Jihad Watch
Dean Esmay
Conservative Thinking
Hyscience
Miami Media:
NBC 6
CBS 4
The Miami Herald
Related:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Sears Tower
Wikipedia – Sears Tower
Video – Observation deck of the Sears Tower.
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