http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/01/23/doubt_cast_over_tip_on_terror_plot/
Doubt cast over tip on terror plot
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | January 23, 2005
An anonymous tipster's claim that 16 people, including 13 Chinese
nationals, were involved in a terror plot to attack Boston last week
was seriously undermined yesterday as the FBI reported that one of the
group has been in custody in San Diego since November and doesn't seem
to have any terrorist ties
The FBI announced on its website yesterday that Mei Xia Dong, 21, paid
an undisclosed amount of money to smugglers who helped her sneak into
the United States from Mexico and it appears her motives for entering
the country ''may have been for economic reasons."
The FBI reported that Dong has been in a US Customs and Border
Protection detention facility in San Diego since her arrest on Nov. 11
on an immigration violation.
''The investigation thus far does not tie her to any terrorist group,"
the FBI wrote on its website, adding, ''Again, we want to stress to
everyone that at this time the threat information is uncorroborated and
of unknown reliability."
The FBI did not reveal any other details of the investigation,
including whether they have identified or questioned the anonymous
source.
US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said yesterday's developments suggest
that if any of the other people being sought are in the country, then
they may be here for economic reasons, as well, and have no links to
terrorism.
Governor Mitt Romney, speaking with reporters yesterday afternoon, said
''good progress" is being made against reported terrorist threats.
''The threat . . . is being apparently resolved favorably," Romney said
at a press conference mostly focused on last night's major snowstorm.
''We have a growing degree of confidence that we're getting on top of
this and appreciation to the FBI for the work they have done."
Romney added, ''We are making good progress and, as a result of that, I
think we have increasing confidence that the biggest concern we have
right now is the snowfall and the cold."
On Wednesday, the FBI and Sullivan's office released the names and
photos of four Chinese nationals -- Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng,
Xiugin Chen, and Guozhi Lin -- who are being sought for questioning
after they were identified by the anonymous caller from Mexico as
terrorists who were en route to Boston, via New York, and had plans to
obtain nuclear material.
The next day, the FBI announced that authorities wanted to question
another 10 people, including Dong, in connection with the alleged plot.
Although the threat had placed the city on alert for a possible
terrorist attack, Romney and Mayor Thomas M. Menino urged the public
not to panic because the information had come from an anonymous source
and was not corroborated.
Law enforcement officials said they were investigating whether the
tipster had labeled the group as terrorists to exact revenge after
being cheated in a human-smuggling or drug-smuggling operation.
The tipster called the California Highway Patrol from Mexico Monday
night and said he had helped smuggle four Chinese nationals and two
unidentified Iraqis into the United States and that they were expected
to arrive in Boston, via New York, in four days, according to law
enforcement officials.
The caller said that ''nuclear oxide" or ''nuclear fiber" was going to
be smuggled to the group through a tunnel system in Mexico into
Southern California, officials said.
The unidentified caller directed police to a package he had tossed over
a border fence into California that contained visas that had been
issued to three of the Chinese nationals by the Mexican embassy in
Beijing and a Chinese identity card for the fourth, officials said.
The package also contained airline ticket stubs and baggage claim
tickets, which included the names of the other nine Chinese nationals
and a 10th person, Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinones.
The FBI said yesterday that it remains interested in information on the
remaining people named by the tipster: Yu Xian Weng, Quinguan Lin,
Liqiang Liang, Min Xiu Xie, Xiang Wei Liu, Xiuming Chen, Cheng Yin Liu,
and Zao Yun Wang.
They urged anyone with information to call the FBI's Boston office at
617-742-5533.
Sullivan said he didn't want to speculate on what may have motivated
the anonymous tipster.
But he said, ''I suspect over the next several days with the effort the
FBI and others have been putting in this investigation, we'll be able
to put all the pieces together and report back exactly who these people
are and, if they are in the country, the circumstances in which they
got into the country."
But he added, ''There's nothing that's been developed since the report
that should raise any concern on the part of the American public."
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