FBI can’t link trio, 1,000 cell phones to trouble

CARO, Mich. – The FBI said Monday it had no information to indicate that the three Texas men arrested with about 1,000 cell phones in their van had any direct connection to known terrorist groups.

Also, a prosecutor in a separate Ohio case said he can’t prove a terrorism link to two men arrested after buying large numbers of cell phones and will drop terrorism charges against them.

In the Michigan case, authorities had increased patrols on the five-mile-long Mackinac Bridge after local prosecutors said investigators believed the men were targeting the span.

Local authorities didn’t say what they believed the men intended to do with the phones, most of which were prepaid TracFones, but Caro’s police chief noted that cell phones can be untraceable and used as detonators.