Related article dated October 31, 2005:
FBI Investigates Cell Phone Purchase ($60,000 worth of prepaid cell phones)
NBC.com - Dallas/Fort Worth ^ | October 31, 2005 | NBC5
Posted on 11/04/2005 4:58:25 PM CST by LurkedLongEnough
DALLAS -- A Target store employee alerted Dallas police to a recent extraordinary cellular telephone equipment purchase. A man bought $60,000 worth of hard-to-trace prepaid cell phones.
The size of the purchase raised suspicions among police investigators, who turned over the case to the FBI.
"Those notifications are taken seriously," former FBI agent Danny Defenbaugh said. "Anytime a business or private citizen sees that type of activity, they need to go the extra step and notify law enforcement."
The large purchase caused investigators to look toward possible homeland security threats. On two occasions during October, a man of Middle Eastern descent bought $30,000 worth of prepaid cell phones. Security experts told NBC 5 that the FBI would work to identify the man and determine why he would buy the hard-to-trace phones.
Officials with the FBI and Target declined to comment on the case other than to say they were pleased that the clerk reported the purchase.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1515879/posts
Why are these phones "hard to trace"? I thought all cellphones had a tracer in them???