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It started innocently enough: Andreas H. Koertel, 46, was pulled over in a traffic stop. Then things got hairy in hurry. Turns out Koertel, a German national, was in possession of meth and illegal weapons, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, so he was booked into jail on multiple charges, KXTV-TV reports. Wisely the deputies called the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to see if they could check out a property in Rio Linda where Koertel had been staying. But detectives encountered quite a bit more than they bargained for Friday. Here’s what they found, KTXL-TV reports: Several explosive materials,...

French authorities are investigating the theft of roughly 200 detonators plus grenades and plastic explosives from a military site in southern France. The thefts at the Miramas site, which is operated by a combination of military services west of Marseille, appeared to have taken place overnight from Sunday to Monday. The break-in came with France on its highest level of alert for terrorism following deadly attacks in January and June.

Politics: President Obama removed Cuba as a state sponsor of terror Friday, forgetting the dictatorship's long record of killing, smuggling and, yes, terror. If this is the new standard, why not just scrap the list entirely? The lifting of Cuba from the list of nations that support terrorism was a farce that may well come back to the haunt the United States. After all, the ruling Castro regime that benefits from it in the name of normal relations with the U.S. and new access to World Bank loans is the same regime that once tried the first 9/11, aligning itself...

Exclusive Public ‘at risk’ as 70 terrorists released   High risk ... Saajit Badat, left, and Moinul Abedin  UP to 70 convicted terrorists due to be released this year will not be properly monitored, a probation chief warned yesterday. The "high risk" extremists, some of them bomb makers, could be walking the streets after being freed on licence. But Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said cuts to services meant adequate checks could not be kept on them. He added: "They have to be supervised by us and the police at a fairly intensive...

Police discovered 1,994 detonator cartridges inside a pickup truck in this northern border metropolis, Mexico's federal Public Safety Office said Tuesday. Officers noticed the abandoned vehicle because its headlights were on and it was missing license plates, according to an official statement. Read more: http://www.latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/04/27/2000-detonators-mexico-border/#ixzz1KlQJu5Fn

A California man accused of robbing banks and assembling what may be the largest cache of homemade explosives ever found in the U.S. was ordered held on $5 million bail Monday.

SNIPPET: "JAIPUR: Nearly 300 tonnes of explosives, loaded in 61 trucks, did a vanishing act while on its way to Sagar in Madhya Pradesh from Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals Limited in Dholpur. According to the police, they are in possession of documents which show that the trucks had left for Sagar between April and June this year from Dholpur but never reached their destination. The explosives included detonators and gelatin sticks which are classified as Class II explosives and are used in mining."

Accused terror plotter Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty Monday, admitting he and others were on the verge of carrying out "martyrdom operations" in Manhattan subways. Appearing in Brooklyn Federal Court, Zazi said the transit attacks were planned for Sept. 14, 15 or 16 - days after the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. He and his co-conspirators aborted the ghastly plot after Zazi's car - packed with chemicals and detonators - was stopped on the George Washington Bridge by investigators who had tailed him from Denver. "I realized law enforcement was watching," Zazi, 25, said matter-of-factly in court. Sources said...

THE TIMES OF INDIA: Diphu (Assam) - "HUGE QUANTITIES OF EXPLOSIVES RECOVERED, TWO ARRESTED" SNIPPET: "... at Bokajan area and recovered 1200 detonators, 75 kg of explosives and five kgs of fuse wire, which they had kept concealed inside boxes of tomatoes. The duo, identified as Tazika and Thuk from Nagaland's Phek district, were arrested, sources..."

War: A Spanish court has charged Venezuela with collaborating in a terrorist plot to assassinate President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia. That's an attempt on a top U.S. ally, and calls for a hard response. If it's not predator-drone time, it's time to name Venezuela as a state sponsor of terror. What came to light Monday isn't the first time Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has been caught aiding terrorists, but it may well be the most egregious. Spanish Judge Eloy Velasco named a Venezuelan government official as a key link between 12 FARC and ETA terrorists who were indicted in a 2003...

Portuguese police have seized half a tonne of explosives at a house that they say was being used as a base by Basque separatist group Eta. The discovery, which also included bomb-making equipment, was made in the central Portugal town of Obidos. Fake licence plates, detonators and maps were also found, officials said. A militant group fighting for an independent Basque homeland, Eta has been blamed for more than 820 deaths during its campaign in Spain. "The material was stored in secure conditions which indicates the work of professionals," local police chief Helder Barros said. Several of the explosives were...

<p>"NatWest handed Al Qaeda terrorist 100% mortgage to buy £93,000 home he turned into a bomb factory"</p> <p>SNIPPET: "A bank has sparked outrage by handing over a 100 per cent mortgage to an Al Qaeda terrorist who smuggled himself into Britain.</p>

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, the political arm of the Mujahedeen Khalq, said the site is built under a hillside east of Tehran and comprises a series of interconnecting tunnels. "All activities related to the manufacture of detonators are done in this web of tunnels," Mehdi Abrichamtchi told a news conference.

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine, Oct 26 (Reuters) - SNIPPET: "Yuri Lutsenko said the men, Ukrainian citizens from the southern Crimean peninsula, were suspected of belonging to al-Takfir wal-Hijra, which originated in Egypt and is linked with activities in North Africa. Lutsenko said explosive materials, detonators, a Kalashnikov rifle and cartridges, firearms instruction manuals, and propaganda material propagating extreme Islam were found in seven places. Pamphlets also linked the men to Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a group that has said it wants to establish a global Islamic caliphate by peaceful means and is well known in Central Asia. "A network of the extreme Islamic movement al-Takfir...

SAADIYAH, Iraq — Iraqi police officers found explosives planted at a polling station Sunday morning here, the latest incident in a tense run-up to provincial elections in northeast Diyala province. The officers found two anti-tank mines with cell phone detonators at a school that will act as a polling station in Saadiyah, north of Baghdad in a part of Iraq disputed between Kurds and Arabs, U.S. military officials said. An Iraqi army explosives ordnance team defused and disposed of the explosives, officials said. Two men hired to guard the school were arrested for suspected complicity in the bombing plot, an...

PRESS RELEASE SNIPPET - QUOTE: HP-1313 Washington, DC--The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated three members of a German Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) cell under Executive Order 13224 (E.O. 13224), which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. "We commend the vigilant and effective work of German authorities in apprehending this terrorist cell before it could carry out its brutal and horrifying attack plans," said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. "In concert with this important law enforcement action, United Nations global sanctions provide a tool of unparalleled scope to...

BERLIN – Officials say German police carried out raids in three states searching for suspected supporters of a terror cell whose plans to attack U.S. targets in Germany were foiled last year. Federal prosecutors' spokesman Frank Wallenta says police made no arrests during Thursday's raids on the residences of several people suspected of acquiring detonators for three alleged terror plotters.

A bulk purchase of disposable cell phones across The South Plains is turning into a federal investigation. Muleshoe authorities have questioned a man, who according to police reports, confesses to buying 60 pre-paid cell phones that might later be used to detonate bombs in the Middle East. The man reportedly bought the phones from stores like Dollar General, Family Dollar and even Wal-mart's across the region. Lubbock is included in the towns he confessed to buying the phones in. Again, in police reports he admits to a store manager the cell phones would eventually be used as bomb detonators in...

Has any one made a map, or done any tracking, of cities/towns the cell phones are being purchased? or of where the suspects are being picked up? Thanks.

One of the students mentioned to her friend that there were bunches of Middle-Eastern guys buying phones in the Radio Shack at Metrocenter, Jackson, MS. About 13 men or so bought the tracphones and her clerk friend also said that many of them came in buying phones in the afternoon as well. I contacted the FBI in Jackson already.