Phone cases: Not terror

Two alleged terrorism cases involving men of Middle Eastern descent and bulk purchases of cell phones were in tatters Monday, and Arab-American leaders said the arrested men were victims of racial profiling.

The FBI and Michigan State Police said Monday there is no evidence linking three Texas men arrested in Caro, Mich., to terrorism or a plot to blow up the Mackinac Bridge.

And in Ohio, federal authorities said they were dropping felony terrorism charges against two Arab-American men from Dearborn.

Both cases were prompted by suspicions the men aroused after buying large quantities of cellular telephones. Arab-American leaders and others said discounted cell phones are frequently bought and resold to make money.

"Are we coming to an era of ultrasensitivity that because a person's identity is Arab or of a Middle Eastern background or the Muslim faith that the first thing on the list is terrorism-related?" asked Imad Hamad, regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene on Saturday charged three Texas men with supporting terrorism after their purchases of large quantities of cellular telephones alarmed a Wal-Mart clerk in Caro, in Michigan's Thumb.

When stopped by police, Maruan Awad Muhareb, 18, Adham Abdelhamid Othman, 21, and Louai Abdelhamied Othman, 23, had about 1,000 cell phones and photographs of the Mackinac Bridge in their van, officials said.

Reene said Saturday he believed the men were targeting the bridge that links Michigan's lower and upper peninsulas.

But on Monday, Daniel Roberts, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit office, said "there is no information to indicate that the individuals arrested have any direct nexus to terrorism."

And Michigan State Police Director Peter Munoz discounted the idea the men were plotting against the 8,614-foot suspension bridge. Reene was studying the FBI statement, an official in his office said, but had not responded to it by late Monday. He did not return phone calls to his office and home. The men remained in custody and the charges had not been dropped.

Blown out of proportion?

Nabih Ayad, lawyer for the men, said he would seek emergency relief today to have bail lowered and the charges dropped. He said he would use the statements from the FBI and state police as evidence that the three men had no terrorist intent.

Ayad said the trio traveled to 20 states to buy phones because the same model is much more expensive in Texas and because many stores limit the number customers may purchase.

"They were in Wisconsin and they drove to the U.P. and then down here," Ayad said. "The Mackinac Bridge was an amusement to them. On the camera there's 50 pictures, 20 of the bridge. The rest are a deer, ducks, flowers and trees."

Ayad said there had already been repercussions for the families of the men in Dallas. "People are driving by and yelling, calling them terrorists," he said.

In Marietta, Ohio, felony terrorism charges will be dropped against two American-born Dearborn men, Sobhi Abulhassan and Ali Houssaiky, both 20, according to a press release from the prosecutor's office.

A Washington County, Ohio, prosecutor said the men still face misdemeanor charges of falsification stemming from inconsistent initial accounts during a traffic stop last week in rural Marietta. Attorney Raymond Smith, who is defending Abulhassan, said there is no evidence the men are terrorists.

"It's been blown way out of proportion," he said.

Lawsuit possible

In a written statement, Abulhassan's family maintained their son was trying to earn money for college and suggested they may sue the authorities who brought the case.

Both men were top students and athletes at Fordson High School in Dearborn and have been in the Washington County Jail for a week.

Similar cases involving suspicious bulk purchases of cell phones by men of Middle Eastern descent in Texas and California were investigated by the FBI in the last year and determined to have no connection with terrorism.

Though it makes sense to be cautious, "it sounds more likely that it is a commercial venture," said Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux, a political science professor and expert on Mideast terrorism at St. Louis University.

It's true cellular telephones can be used to detonate bombs, but why would terrorists need to purchase so many at one time in a manner that would be likely to arouse suspicion, Leguey-Feilleux asked.

"I doubt very much that many bombs would be on an assembly line," he said.

Osama Siblani, executive director of the Council of Arab American Organizations and the publisher and editor of the Arab American News, said the Tuscola County charges are unfounded.

"To think that these men are wanting to blow up the Mackinac Bridge, just because they are Arab men with some cell phones," Siblani said. "How silly."

Moneymaking schemes

Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular Inc. in Dexter, said certain companies will sell prepaid telephones at a loss because the phones are programmed so they only can be used with that particular company's telephone calling cards.

Newman said he's heard of a possibly illegal scheme involving middlemen who know how to unlock the software so the phones are no longer dependent on one company's calling cards or pre-paid services.

Derek Hewitt, senior vice president of marketing for TracFone in Miami, said similar schemes in which his company's phones are bulk-purchased and altered so they can be used without TracFone service "cause extensive losses" to his company.

Manufacturers' concerns are the reason Wal-Mart limits cell phone sales to three phones per transaction, the company said in a statement.

Tony Margis, deputy chief of police in Hemet, Calif., said a Target clerk became suspicious after Middle Eastern men tried to buy about 60 cell phones on New Year's Eve. The FBI investigation "found it was not nefarious," Margis said.