404: homeland security not found in Tampa

[beerslurpy]

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBDJDFFFNE.html

Oh it was just an innocent mistake, a bunch of Saudi nationals riding the bus to school with your children. Nothing to see here, move along.

Am I the only one who is mildly alarmed by this story? This screams "trial run" to me.

Published: May 20, 2006

TAMPA - Two Saudi men were arrested Friday after they boarded a school bus and rode to Wharton High School in New Tampa.

Students on the bus became alarmed, as did the bus driver, who called ahead. Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies met the bus at the school and detained the men. No one was injured and nothing out of line occurred on the bus, deputies said.

Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, who lives in Apt. 302 in The Point apartments, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20 Monticello Gardens, Apt. 304-A, each were charged with trespassing on school property. Both remained in Orient Road Jail on Friday evening. Bail for each was set at $250.

"Both defendants gave several versions of the reason they took a school bus to a high school," said Hillsborough County sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway.

"They said they wanted to go to Wharton to look around, and then they said they wanted to go there to have some fun, and then they said they wanted to enroll in the English classes there," Callaway said.

"We're not sure if this was a situation of them just being new to this country, or if they were confused or what it was," Callaway said. "We were unsure as to exactly what the final reason was, but it did cause great concern for the students on the bus and for us. One of the guys was wearing shorts with a black trench coat."

While on the bus, the men laughed and spoke in Arabic, Callaway said.

Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the men likely meant no harm and that because "they were from Saudi Arabia, that escalated the situation."

He blamed the incident on cultural differences.

"They didn't differentiate between a school bus and public transportation," he said.

The bus picked up the students and the men at about 7 a.m. Friday at the corner of Fletcher Avenue and 42nd Street, deputies said.

The bus driver, a substitute, reached her supervisors by telephone. They relayed the information to Wharton High resource Deputy Mike Eastman, who met the bus when it arrived at school at about 7:30 a.m., and detained the men.

The sheriff's Homeland Security Division, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Regional Domestic Security Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI all were notified.

Almanajam and Alsidran at first told deputies they were from Morocco, but later admitted being from Saudi Arabia, deputies said. They said they were enrolled at the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida.

Both arrived in the United States about six months ago and have student visas that require them to be enrolled at the English Language Institute, Callaway said.

Authorities searched the apartments of the two men and found nothing of concern, he said.

 

[2nd_amendment]

What the h...why would the driver allow them on the bus in the first place?

 

[Cacique500]

This screams "trial run" to me.

+1

At least the driver regained her senses and called the police - but there's no way they should've gotten on the bus in the first place.

"They didn't differentiate between a school bus and public transportation," he said.

Riiiiiiiiiiight...

 

[garyk/nm]

Profiling! Profiling!!!
Unless you arrest ALL 20-something Arabic males, wearing shorts and trenchcoats, riding schoolbuses, we're gonna be all over you!

Sincerely,
The ACLU

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Unless you arrest ALL 20-something Arabic males, wearing shorts and trenchcoats, riding schoolbuses, we're gonna be all over you!

Works for me!

 

[feedthehogs]

I would hope that the bus driver loses their job for first allowing them on the bus and second for moving the bus with them on it.

But then again its Florida. A place where common sense was filtered from the gene pool many generations ago.

 

[SB88LX]

Moving the bus? Yeah, can't disagree with that one, stupid move. But how are drivers supposed to stop people from boarding a bus? Are they allowed to be armed?

 

[TallPine]

Almost 30 years back when I drove a school bus, we had 10-codes for various situations that might occur, so you could inform base without alerting or alarming the kids. I don't remember if we had one for "non-authorized person on the bus" but we probably did. The driver should have called it in and requested police response before moving the bus.

IMNSHO school bus drivers these days should be armed to protect the children.

The obvious homeland security solution is to ignore this incident and instead tap the phones of 300 million people and read more emails It's about time for another terrorist attack anyway ... to convince the people to give up some more liberties in order to be safe

 

[El Tejon]

Man, is The Base taking their ops from Tom Clancy novels? Stealing planes and ramming them into building and shooting up schoolyards full of kids are right out of big, thick (tepid and repetitive) Clancy books.