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e Speech October 7, 2004 Man Released in Oklahoma After Terror Alert: Another Israeli Spy? Too strange to be true, yet it is: FBI says they are “familiar” with mysterious traveler. THEY CLOSED a state highway in Delaware County, Oklahoma, for three hours because of him over the weekend. Witnesses say they saw a pipe bomb on his roof. When stopped for questioning, he identified himself as an Israeli but declined to show authorities a passport or visa.
What local residents — concerned about terrorism against the region’s dam and water supply — thought was a pipe bomb turned out to be something even stranger: a roof-mounted surveillance camera hooked to video recording equipment inside the man’s car, reportedly used for “taking pictures of the area’s surroundings.”
The Israeli (whom the FBI and local officials refuse to identify; no charges were filed) had been seen asking directions to various local landmarks, and aroused even more suspicions when he refused to use metal utensils or a glass at the local diner for fear of leaving fingerprints. Sheila K. Stogsdill reported in The Oklahoman :A two-mile stretch of State Highway 20, east of Jay, was closed Saturday while an Oklahoma Highway Patrol bomb squad searched the man’s car.
Authorities had received a report of “possible terrorist activities.” The FBI office in Tulsa was notified, and agents were called to interview the man. He was released after being held for seven hours. The driver, who identified himself as Israeli, was unable to show a passport or visa.The FBI received “some hits on his name and said they had dealt with him before,” he said. The man, approximately 40 years old, is married to a U.S. citizen, [Undersheriff Dale] Eberle said.
He did show an Arizona driver’s license with a Gentry, Ark., address. Saturday, the Delaware County sheriff’s office received a report that a man stopped at a convenience store near Jay and was asking directions to Oklahoma. He was driving a car with what appeared to be pipe bomb attached to the roof. Eberle said the “pipe bomb” was a video camera inside tubes taking pictures of the area’s surroundings.”Our concern was for the Pensacola Dam and the two watersheds that feed Tulsa,” Eberle said.
Eberle said authorities reviewed the videotape, which showed the surroundings from different angles. The video showed nothing specific, he said. An inventory of the car showed recording devices and tools, Eberle said. Eberle said the man was in Jay last week asking questions about the community’s industry. He also ate at a local diner, but he refused to use a metal fork or a glass because he didn’t want to leave his fingerprints, he said.
The unnamed Israeli was released and no futher information about him is available from official sources. The Joplin Globe reports that the mysterious Israeli refused to answer the questions of local law enforcement and demanded that they contact the FBI and CIA if they wanted explanations.
Then, when the FBI was brought in, the agency blandly declared they were “familiar” with the mysterious traveler — and he was ordered released:The Delaware County Sheriff’s Department received a report at 9:32 a.m. that someone was driving a car with items that looked like pipe bombs, according to a written release from Delaware County undersheriff Dale Eberle . The caller described the subject as a Middle Eastern male who was asking for directions to Oklahoma, according to the statement.
The caller stated the subject was driving a car with what appeared to be pipe bombs attached to the roof. “Delaware County deputies inquired about the suspicious items on top of the subject’s car. The subject told deputies that they would have to talk to the CIA and FBI about it and refused to answer further questions,” said Eberle in the written release. The driver reportedly said he was Israeli and was unable to produce a passport or visa, according to Eberle’s statement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Tulsa was notified and agents were called to interview the man.The investigation ended at 5 p.m. Saturday with the release of the motorist. A dispatcher for the FBI in Oklahoma City said the agency was referring all calls to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department. Eberle did not return a message left late Saturday on his cell phone. One reader commented on the Globe story: “Why in the world was the motorist under investigation released…?
Apparently he was driving a car without a license and had no proper ID to even be in America! Totally amazing! Has 9-11 taught us nothing. even when it is in our own back yard?I commend the individual who initially called with concern about this motorist. So very sorry that nothing was done concerning the lack of ID….”
This incident follows on the heels of the arrests of several mysterious Israelis — typically caught acting as if they are on intelligence operations — who are invariably released. News coverage, with the exception of National Vanguard and a few other alternative sources, is usually stricly local.
Navy locks down King’s Bay Submarine Base (Georgia) Friday after two Israeli “movers” are detained for questioning | Daniel Hopsicker reports: Israeli “movers” in submarine-base scare to be freed | Two Israelis held for deportation May 9, 2004: Israelis with fake docs arrested in Tennessee, ‘how to fly’ leaflet found; were seen to toss something else out of Ryder truck, FBI called in Israeli official denies report that Mossad followed 9/11 terrorists