THIS guy was grabbed 7/27, before all the other guys were noticed...
what do you want to bet that he doesn't show up in court?
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http://www.masslive.com/metrowest/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1155730840298480.xml&coll=1
Customs takes over cell phone case
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
By DAVID REID
dreid@repub.com
HOLYOKE - A 27-year-old California man detained by city police last month after he bought 300 cellular phones from an electronics store near the mall is facing a federal deportation hearing next month.
Mahmoud H. Elroumi, of Beverly Hills, was picked up July 23 by city detectives inside the COMPUSA store at Holyoke Crossing adjacent to the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside after being alerted by a store clerk, police said. Elroumi could not be reached for comment.
No criminal charges were filed locally against Elroumi, but Police Chief Anthony R. Scott said detectives held the California man as a suspicious person, and contacted the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, which took him into custody.
Elaine Komis, a spokeswoman for the federal Executive Office for Immigration Review, said yesterday that Elroumi was released on bond after an Aug. 4 hearing in Hartford. Elroumi, she said, was ordered to appear at a Sept. 26 deportation hearing before a U.S. Immigration Court judge in Hartford.
The charge against Elroumi accuses him of violating U.S. law by failing to legally maintain his nonimmigrant status, Komis said. No other details were available.
Scott said Elroumi was born in Liberia and traveled to Lebanon for schooling.
The chief said Elroumi told city detectives he had bought hundreds of cell phones in Rochester, N.Y., and shipped them to a colleague in California for resale. He told police he planned to do the same thing in Springfield and New York City, Scott said.
Scott said cell phones purchases draw attention because the phones can be used as a triggering device for explosives.
In recent weeks, authorities across the United States have arrested a number of men after they made large-scale cell phone purchases with cash, charging some with terrorism-related crimes.
The most high-profile case was last week, when Michigan police arrested three Texas men whose minivan contained 1,000 prepaid cell phones and photographs and videos of the Mackinac bridge, which connects the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. The men told a judge they were buying the phones for resale. The FBI has since said there is no indication that there is a connection between the three men and any known terrorist group.
Asked about the focus on bulk cell phone purchases, FBI Special Agent and spokeswoman Gail A. Marcinkiewicz said yesterday that "large purchases of cell phones does not necessarily mean there is a nexus to terrorism." When such situations arise, "the FBI will evaluate and act appropriately," Marcinkiewicz said from her Boston office.
Scott said Holyoke police continue to investigate the matter.
Middle East is mostly GSM. We, because of more hard-wired infrastructure already in place, are not.