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Who Stole the Detroit Pistons’ Explosives A Year Ago . . . And Why?

Posted by Gabrielle Cusumano on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:44:50 PM
stolen trucks carrying explosives, hazardous chemicals, and others–like Schwan’s Ice Cream trucks, which have more room in and around their engines to pack explosives.
February 4, 2008, - 2:31 pm

Who Stole the Detroit Pistons’ Explosives . . . And Why?

 
Ever since 9/11, there have been many reports of stolen trucks carrying explosives, hazardous chemicals, and others–like Schwan’s Ice Cream trucks, which have more room in and around their engines to pack explosives. The Schwan’s trucks were the subject of an FBI bulletin sent to the Michigan State Police and other law enforcement authorities.

None of these missing trucks have ever been found. And the FBI and DHS haven’t made it a priority to find them or take precautions.
Now, a trailer carrying Detroit Pistons fireworks and explosives “that easily could blow off body parts” is missing. Yet, it’s only the subject of a local police investigation focusing on stolen property.
truck.jpghazmats.jpg

Where is Famous But Incompetent? Too busy, breaking pita with Detroit-area Muslims at La Shish, Hezbollah’s fave eats. I mean, no biggie that these explosives could blow people up and that they were stolen in the heart of Islamic America, right?:

Someone in metro Detroit is hauling a stolen trailer carrying about $70,000 worth of explosives meant to pump up the crowd before Pistons games.
Employees of Band-Ayd Systems International Inc., which provides for five years has provided the flames and flash that kick off home games, discovered the trailer was missing about 8 a.m. Sunday.

Loaded inside were dragons – the devices that shoot flames skyward during the starting line-up’s introductions – and concussive explosions that easily could blow off body parts.

“My fear is they stole it for scrap,” said Nino De Benedetti, Band-Ayd’s president. “And when open it and find it’s this monstrous thing, they‚Äôll just start cutting into it.” That, he said, could be deadly.

That’s not my fear. I would not be surprised if it was stolen for the explosives inside. And that should be federal law enforcement’s concern. Sadly, it appears it is not.

Warren police are investigating the theft, which occurred near Dequindre and 14 Mile in an industrial parking lot. Warren Police Detective Sgt. Dan Beck said people with information should call the detective’s bureau at 586-574-4776.

This past summer, Warren opened its first mosque, the Islamic Organization of North America, a Sunni operation hosted by extremists from Lebanon and Pakistan.
Hello . . .?
The missing trailer is a 2001 Haulmark brand that’s towed behind a vehicle. It’s 20 feet long and silver on the sides and back. The nose is blue with a diamond checkered plate.

The trailer’s license plate is A294612. [DS: That's probably been discarded and replaced with a stolen plate, hours ago.] De Benedetti is offering a $5,000 reward for the return of the equipment.
Best of luck.
Above article is by Debbie Schussel  http://www.debbieschlussel.com/3373/who-stole-the-detroit-pistons-explosives-and-why/
 
Trailer & $70,000 explosives stolen in Detroit

4 February 2008: A trailer containing about $70,000 worth of high-tech fireworks used during player introductions at Detroit Pistons basketball games was discovered stolen early Sunday morning in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Michigan. The still-missing trailer is described as a 20? 2001 Haulmark brand tow-behind style trailer bearing Michig More..

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Anvil Pounding In Pakistan Tribal Areas Knocking Off Terrorist...

Posted by Gabrielle Cusumano on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 3:04:49 PM
While Looking For The Big Fish, Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahir and Mullah Omar. See Rewards For Justice Wanted Photographs and Reward $ Amounts In The Next Section After "Seeking Information". 
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Top Al Qaeda men killed in Monday’s Waziristan attack
Wednesday, 10 Sep, 2008 | 12:27 PKT |  Excerpt
Rubble from a missile attack. - AP (file photo)
Rubble from a missile attack. - AP (file photo)
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Two top Al Qaeda operatives were among four foreign militants killed in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan's northwest, intelligence officials said Wednesday.
One allegedly was in charge of the terror network's activities in Pakistan's tribal regions.
The suspected missile strike occurred Monday in North Waziristan, destroying a seminary and houses associated with Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani.
Three Pakistani intelligence officials identified four foreign militants killed in the strike as Abu Qasim, Abu Musa, Abu Hamza and Abu Haris. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of their jobs' sensitivity.
Abu Haris led Al Qaeda efforts in the tribal areas, while Abu Hamza led activities in Peshawar, said the intelligence officials, who said they got the details from informants and agents in the field.
Abu Haris' nationality had yet to be confirmed, but Abu Hamza was from Saudi Arabia, the officials said. Abu Hamza was believed to be a bomb-making expert as well. Abu Qasim was Egyptian, while Abu Musa also was Saudi, but both appeared to be lower-ranking Al Qaeda members, the officials said.
An army spokesman, Maj. Murad Khan, said Wednesday the military had no information about the identity or nationality of the men killed in what he called 'explosions' in North Waziristan.
'We don't know who died in the explosions there,' he said.
Two of the intelligence officials said Tuesday that the overall death toll from the strike rose to 20 after residents and militants pulled more bodies from the rubble. The targets were associated with Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the fight against Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s who American commanders now count as a dangerous foe.
Haqqani and his son, Siraj, have been linked to attacks this year including an attempt to kill Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a suicide attack on a hotel in Kabul.
Haqqani network operatives plague US forces in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province with ambushes and roadside bombs. Excerpt

 http://www.dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/pakistan/nwfp/top+al+qaeda+men+killed+in+mondays+waziristan+attack
 
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Troops sustain attacks in Waziristan  (Excerpt)
Wednesday, 10 Sep, 2008 | 4:33 PKT |
This file picture shows a tribesman watching a military operation in Miranshah in Pakistan's North Waziristan-Reuters
MIRANSHAH: Several security forces' camps in North Waziristan have reportedly come under rocket attacks from militants. According to Dawn News the militants fired about eight rockets on the various security forces camps at Miranshah and Mir Ali on Tuesday.

 

According the details available to the news channel, most of North Waziristan was out of electricity as one of the rockets hit the main power grid.
 
The security forces retaliated by bombarding militant hideouts.
 
Local militants had warned that they would avenge the killing of Afghan commander Jallahuddin Haqani’s family members and other militants, who were killed in a suspected US drone air strike in Dandi-zar-Dapakhel area of North Waziristan.
 
The raid was launched on Monday in Khost province against militants suspected of carrying out roadside bomb attacks in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement.

 

 
Al-Qaeda number two al-Zawahiri reported injured by US missile

Al-Qa'eda's deputy leader has been wounded and may even have died after a US missile strike in a tribal area along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, according to a report.

 By Nick Meo  Excerpt
Last Updated: 2:16PM BST 02 Aug 2008
Al-Qaeda number two al-Zawahiri reported injured by US missile 

US broadcaster CBS said it had obtained an intercepted letter from a Pakistani Taliban commander requesting urgent medical help for Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man. Pakistan's military said it had no information about the report.

Chief Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said: "There is no evidence or information in this regard. We have no reliable information."

Al-Zawahiri has been mistakenly reported killed before in the remote and hostile area where he is believed to be hiding along with other surviving al-Qaeda leaders.

Many intelligence officials believe the Egyptian doctor has always been the real brains behind Al-Qaeda. He was a key planner of the September 11th attacks. Intelligence sources in Washington told The Sunday Telegraph last year that he has been the group's de facto leader for the last two years, chairing meetings which were formerly presided over by Osama bin Laden who may now be in poor health.

It is believed that al-Zawahiri may have been hit in a strike by an unmanned drone on July 28 which killed Midhat al-Sayid Umar, an Egyptian chemical weapons expert with a $5 million bounty on his head who was considered one of the most dangerous men in the terrorist organisation.

President George Bush is believed to have ordered a new drive to kill or capture al-Qaeda members before he leaves office.

CBS said it received a letter from Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud dated July 29, with the young warlord's seal and signature. The letter describes how al-Zawahiri was in "severe pain" and said that his "injuries are infected".    Excerpt

Excerpted From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/2489046/Al-Qaeda-number-two-al-Zawahiri-reported-injured-by-US-missile.html

US and Afghan officials say Pakistan's tribal areas are a safe haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who sneaked into the rugged region after the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are widely believed to be hiding in the mountainous region.

Monday's strike targeted the house or the madrassa established by former Taliban commander Haqqani during the 1978-88 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, residents said.

Haqqani, who was a close aid to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, has not been seen since the fall of the hardline regime in Afghanistan in 2001.

He is widely believed to be bed-ridden while his son is the main contact between Afghan and Pakistani Taliban militants based in North Waziristan.

Residents said two pilotless aircraft circled over Dande Darpakhel, three kilometres (about two miles) north of Miranshah, before at least one drone fired several missiles.
 
 

This map shows the seven districts, or agencies -- from Bajaur in the north to the Waziristans in the south. Click on the underlined text for details.

click to view ethnic areas

Quetta

This is the Pakistani city from which much of the Taliban insurgency is being directed. Because it's close to the Afghan border, it is a launching point for cross-border attacks. Afghan intelligence believes Mullah Omar, the Taliban's supreme leader, is here.

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South Waziristan

Intelligence analysts call South Waziristan the new headquarters for Al Qaeda's global operations. Pakistani military operations have been focused here because terror plots and assassination attempts on President Musharraf have been traced to the area. The Taliban have killed more than a hundred tribal elders in South Waziristan because they were suspected of cooperating with Americans or the Pakistan government.

Watch the section of the film on Waziristan - video chapter 2.

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Shikai Valley

Home to the charismatic Taliban leader Nek Mohammed, this area has seen some of the fiercest fighting between militants and Pakistani soldiers, as well as the brokering of a 2004 peace deal. Mohammed agreed to lay down arms and register all Al Qaeda militants in the area, which was home to several Al Qaeda training camps. The treaty broke down almost immediately; Mohammed and several pro-government tribal elders who had brokered the deal were killed in the following months.

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North Waziristan

Pakistani soldiers stationed here have faced nightly attacks from the Taliban. North Waziristan is also the base of Jalaluddin Haqqani, an architect of Taliban attacks in southern Afghanistan. And, in December 2005, Abu Hamza Rabia, a key Al Qaeda operative, was killed here in an American airstrike. For now, the United States remains on the Afghan side of the border. In September 2006, they ordered 7,000 more troops into the area opposite North Waziristan.

Watch the section of the film on Waziristan - video chapter 2.

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Bajaur Agency

This area is believed to be a new base for Al Qaeda and the most likely location for bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, but the Pakistan army has almost no troops deployed here. Damadola village was the site of a January 2006 U.S. missile strike targeting Zawahiri. He escaped, but 18 people were killed, including four Al Qaeda operatives. Zawahiri appeared in a video two weeks later, taunting, "Bush, do you want to know where I am?"

Watch the section of the film on Bajaur - video chapter 6.

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Miram Shah

In the summer of 2006 the Taliban took over this city, the capital of North Waziristan, and held it for three days. Pakistani officials say hundreds of Al Qaeda militants are also harbored here. In September 2006, the Pakistani government signed an accord here with tribal leaders -- many aligned with Al Qaeda and the Taliban -- calling for a halt to fighters crossing into Afghanistan and to attacks on Pakistani forces. Pakistan pledged to cease military operations against the militants. Critics say the deal will give the militants more freedom to operate.

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Peshawar

Peshawar, Pakistan's oldest city, is gateway to the Khyber Pass and capital of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier. It has long been a center for drug smugglers, gun runners and jihadists. Peshawar was the birthplace of Al Qaeda in the 1980s and today it is a new base of operations for the Taliban. The Taliban's influence is increasingly apparent: billboards are censored, and women on the streets are fully covered. The western end of the city marks the entrance to Pakistan's tribal lands.

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Khyber Pass

Over the centuries it has been an historic border passage between Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the 1980s it was a gateway for Afghan refugees fleeing the Soviet invasion. Today, it is crossing point for militants coming from Pakistan to fight coalition forces in Afghanistan.

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Tora Bora

In December 2001, Osama bin Laden and his fighters were holed up in the mountains of Tora Bora. U.S. strategy depended on getting the Pakistanis to man their side of the border. But Pakistani troops were diverted -- Islamic militants had attacked India's parliament and neighboring India threatened war against Pakistan. Bin Laden escaped and many of his fighters crossed unimpeded into Waziristan.

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map
quetta s waziristan shikai valley n waziristan bajour miram shah peshawar khyber tora bora
Excerpted Map from Front Line at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/taliban/tribal/map.html
 

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