FBI tells lawmakers there's no evidence terrorists came in on tankers

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/05/04/fbi_tells_lawmakers_theres_no_evidence_terrorists_came_in_on_tankers/

FBI tells lawmakers there's no evidence terrorists came in on tankers

May 4, 2004

BOSTON -- Massachusetts congressmen and local officials said they were assured by the FBI that an investigation found no evidence of terrorists slipping into Boston on natural gas tankers from Algeria.

"We were told that, thus far, they have been unable to create any kind of linkage whatsoever" between stowaways on the ships and al-Qaida, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey said Monday after a meeting with federal law enforcement officials in Boston.

Markey, Rep. Stephen Lynch and Rep. Michael Capuano, all Democrats, met privately with FBI officials and U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, along with state and city officials from Boston and Everett, where the liquefied natural gas tankers dock.

Markey said last week he wanted more information on what the federal government knew about possible tanker infiltration during the 1990s and whether that information was shared with local officials. A second briefing was scheduled for Tuesday with Coast Guard and Homeland Security officials.

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I remember the articles on human smuggling from the Orient a while back. Chinese and other Asian undocumented immigrants were smuggled in on container ships. I don't see why people from bin Laden country wouldn't try to follow their example.

These days the flow of Chinese has slowed down. The main reason is that more Chinese seem to be finding good economic opportunities closer to home.