My friend works at a wal-mart in California and there is a man and woman of (Middle Eastern desent) that are buying cell phones by the dozen at the wal-mart. They buy them every few weeks and say that they are for family when they are asked about it by the cashier. I know that some terrorsits have used cell phones as some sort of detinater.
The management has been notified of this by the employees. Management says that there is nothing that they can do because they are afraid of being sued.
My friend is very concered about this (as she well should be). What can be done to have the authorities investigate this? What can we do?
2007-07-31 13:24:08 · 7 answers · asked by lion75 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
bad
2007-07-31 13:26:44 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
A federal law was just passed to help whistle blowers like your friend do the right thing, and report this to the local police or federal government.
It is called the JOHN DOE law. What happened is a bunch of Imams (Muslim priests) got on a plane and started doing some very suspicious things, that went way beyond religious practices. There was another muslim on the plane who overheard them talking in some middle eastern language about what a great guy bin Laden is. I mean a lot of stuff that was way suspeicious. So several passengers spoke up & they got booted off the plane. Well they sued the airline and the passengers. This has a chilling effect on future people reporting to the authorities when something seems suspicious ... it may be innocent, it might not, but we ought to report it.
So the JOHN DOE law says that if you report something suspicious, whether or not the persons you report are innocent of guitly, you cannot be sued for reporting soemthing suspicious. I suggest you search the Internet News for info on this new JOHN DOE law, then have your friend show that to the Wal Mart management that is apparently ignorant of this.
It could well be that there is a big family in which one or two people are buying cell phones for the whole family. It could also be that there is a terror cell in your own back yard that is in the process of attaching cell phones to explosives they are making and planting some place.
A year or so ago there was a case in Michigan & Ohio where some fellow bought hundreds of these cell phones & the explanation was that he was trying to sell them in Florida, but it really sounded like the guy was ignorant ... you can get a vendor license and buy cell phones direct from the manufacturer a heck of a lot cheaper than buying at Wal Marts & other retail super stores. So this idea of buying at one store, transporting 1/2 way across the country to sell someplace else, the gas prices are going to eat up any profits.
It sure is suspicious. So what do you do?
If you are in a major city, there should be a federal building, which includes an office of the FBI & possibly other Department of Homeland Security government agencies.
Somewhere in your phone book there should be a section on government offices ... look up US Government then your choice of what makes most sense to you
Customs & Border Patrol
Department of Defense
Department of Homeland Security http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/PublicSafety/Homeland.shtml
Department of Justice http://www.usdoj.gov/
Federal Bureau of Investigation http://www.fbi.gov/
Law Enforcement
Secret Service
or you can go to their web sites (which I added some above) ... for example the FBI web site has links to where you go to report a crime, or to locate the closest FBI office
If you are looking for some US government web site, and you do not know where to begin, First Gov is great http://www.usa.gov/
However, a lot of this is aimed at informing people, not helping people inform the government, so you are better off knowing what agency of government is in charge of dealing with specific issues, then going drirectly to that agency.
If in doubt, contact your local police. They'll know who to contact in federal law enforcement.
2007-07-31 21:28:53 · answer #2 · answered by Al Mac Wheel 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If they were truly using them as detonators, they wouldn't need so many. I think you're being a bit paranoid. Small companies do this all the time. They go to Wal-Mart or Costco, buy things in bulk, and then sell them at a profit in their small stores. Wal-mart is so cheap that it's often cheaper than buying from a distributor.
2007-07-31 20:27:13 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
If I were you, I would inform the Police of you suspicions. If she pays with a check or credit card, you can discretely note her name to give the police. They may investigate. That is really all YOU can do. My guess is she is reselling them for a profit.
2007-07-31 21:18:44 · answer #4 · answered by STEVEN F 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
report it to the FBI see if they could monitor their calls and they could check into their criminal record and contacts with terrorist nations
but maybe they use them for the employees of their bisuiness or maybe they are donating them or something
just because they are middle eastern looking doesnt mean they are terrorists
DONT WORRY thats why we have the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and other gov oranizations
2007-07-31 21:09:43 · answer #5 · answered by ER3 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Tell the authorities and leave it at that.
There is nothing else you can lawfully do.
2007-07-31 20:28:16 · answer #6 · answered by greencoke 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Call police, but California may not want to do anything.
2007-07-31 20:27:25 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋