Rocket launcher? Check. Jihadist writings? Check. But no worries -- the Feds found no ties to terrorism!
Keystone Kops Alert from Houston: "Rocket Launcher Found In Apartment: No Charges Filed," from Click2Houston.com, December 31 (thanks to Rich):
HOUSTON -- Police went to a southwest Houston apartment to break up a disturbance but ended up finding something else, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.A woman called police on Monday and said a man was forcing his way into her apartment in the 5300 block of Elm Street.
When officers went inside, they found something that made them concerned enough to call the bomb squad.
They found an AT-4 shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. It can shoot a missile nearly 1,000 feet through buildings and tanks.
"It gives infantrymen the advantage with an ultra-light weapon that can stop vehicles, armored vehicles as well as main battle tanks and fortifications," said Oscar Saldivar of Top Brass Military and Tactical on the North Freeway.
That type of rocket launcher has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The renter of the apartment didn't want to talk to KPRC Local 2.
"This is my house," the woman said. " Get away from here. I don't want to talk to nobody."
The woman did tell police that the rocket launcher belonged to Nabilaye I. Yansane, someone whom she allowed to store items at her apartment.
Police records show that she didn't want Yansane at her apartment, so she called them.
According to court documents, officers also found Jihadist writings that allegedly belonged to Yansane. The woman didn't want to talk to KPRC Local 2 about that, either.
"I don't know," she said. "You'll have to ask the police."
Yansane was charged with criminal trespassing and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to three days in jail, which he has already served. No charges related to the rocket launcher or writings were filed.
"Other people could have had access to the apartment, so maybe if a rocket launcher was located there, as is stated in the offense report, maybe it belonged to somebody else," attorney Garl Polland said.
Prosecutors said there are no state charges for having the unarmed launcher or possessing Jihadist writings, unless they contain some type of threat.
The former director of Houston's FBI office said rocket launchers can be dangerous if they're in the wrong hands.
No kidding, really?
"I don't know any other use for those weapons except in combat," Don Clark said. "I've had them in combat, used them in combat. That's what they are used for."Houston police said they did a thorough investigation and did not find any ties to terrorists or a terrorist network.
What a relief!
Oh for God's sake!! If this is PC motivated it's disgusting. What, they're going to wait until he actually USES the rocket launcher?
No ties to terrorists or a network? What, he just stores it at someone's place so he can go over and look at it?
Please.
"Other people could have had access to the apartment, so maybe if a rocket launcher was located there, as is stated in the offense report, maybe it belonged to somebody else," attorney Garl Polland said.
.....................
So the rocket launcher might have belonged to *yet another Jihadist*, and not to Yasane? No worries, then! sarc/off
also, remember that this rocket launcher and Jihadist material likely belonged to someone who *had already proved he was violent*, by forcing his way into this woman's home.
Houston police said they did a thorough investigation and did not find any ties to terrorists or a terrorist network.
In other News, despite the use of both hands Houston Police fail to find own arse.
[Rolls_eyes]
People, do NOT rely on your local police or Federal Government to protect you. Make sure you can protect yourself.
C'mon tommorow is JANUARY 1st,not APRIL 1st!
This must be a joke!
What more do the police need to establish terror-ties?
A nuclear weapon all set to be released?
Whoa, an AT-4?! That's one of the nastiest portable weapons there is, made by the Swedes up there at Saab. Expensive too, but well worth it given the ease-of-use relative to the explosive long distance results it can deliver.
*** 33:36 ***
Houston police said they did a thorough investigation and did not find any ties to terrorists or a terrorist network.
This doesn't come close to fraud, it is fraud, in this instance a felony fraud crime perpetrated by the police. Lying, covering up, deceiving, it's Murrah and that sag-titted liar Janet Reno all over again. Why has the Harris County DA not indicted the Houston Police Chief on this?
*** 92:8 ***
Why do we kid ourselves so?
Having Bruce Cockburn introduce this thread couldn't possibly be more appropriate.
Hello, all. Well, the issue could be that spent rocket launcher casings, which this appears to have been, can be picked up for a pittance in ANY surplus store; it is not illegal to possess these items. Had this been an active rocket launcher capable of being fired, the man would have doubtlessly been arrested.
It is not against the law to have this item, or (apparently) to possess jihadist writings. Jihadist writings are readily available on the internet and have even been reproduced on this site.
I agree that we need to take responsibility for our own protection and not leave everything up to "authorities."
But, the phrase "unarmed launcher" tells me the launcher was just the tube from which a rocket is launched, minus the rocket. The AT-4 is a disposable weapon meaning that once the rocket is fired the tube cannot be used again to launch another rocket. The firer can just drop it and walk away. You can buy a used, inert AT-4 on the Internet, just google it.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b24/hybenamon/LAND/INFANTRY/AT4%20and%20M136/AT4-pg3.jpg
Could Yansane have been using it to train for when he manages to somehow get a live AT4? Certainly. The military trains on inert AT4s and the older M72 LAW tubes. But, and I know this from investigative experience, the only time it's legal to have a live AT4/M72 is in a combat zone or on a military firing range.
So, it's my guess this "rocket launcher" is just an empty, used tube that cannot be fired again. But the fact that Yansane had it aaaaaand jihadist writings is clearly a red flag and HPD shouldn't be shining us on telling us there's nothin' to worry about.
Hello, all. Well, the issue could be that spent rocket launcher casings, which this appears to have been, can be picked up for a pittance in ANY surplus store; it is not illegal to possess these items. Had this been an active rocket launcher capable of being fired, the man would have doubtlessly been arrested.
It is not against the law to have this item, or (apparently) to possess jihadist writings. Jihadist writings are readily available on the internet and have even been reproduced on this site.
Yansane? JihadWatch.org ran a story about another Yansané named Lamine Yansané's apostasy earlier this month. Canada denied refugee status to Lamine. Perhaps there is more to this? Both from Guinea. hmmmmm.
What's with Houston's sudden appearance on the jihad radar?
Hakeem Olajuwon is a major contributor to Houston-area mosques. I wonder if he's knowingly funding jihad.
Police departments all over the country have been retailing this kind of crap constantly. "Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck ... so there's no conclusive evidence yet that this is a duck, we are looking into the possibility that this may be a chicken."
I sincerely doubt that the pointy end of the stick Houston street cops/detectives are that dumb.
They must be acting on crack-brained instructions from above.
This is a real shame, and I mean the word shame quite literally.
My experience of cops is that most of them are fairly idealistic people who take up that life out of a desire to protect. And they generally experience shame when asked to enforce idiot laws and policies that protect nobody.
Unfortunately for all concerned, the only way to inject some common sense in such situations is to pressure the regular police about the shamefulness and idiocy of their actions.
True, it is their bosses' fault, but the regular cops' sense of honor has to be enlisted in the cause of calling those political toady careerist bosses to account.
And so on up the political chain.
Pressure the low-level functionary and the high level decision maker at the same time.
Nothing happens any other way.
In today's sick cultural environment it falls to the citizens to see to it that our guardians spend their time guarding.
Who is Nabilaye I. Yansane? What is his country of origin? Is he in America legally? Is he a citizen? Are rocket launchers like automatic weapons, required by law to be registered with authorities?
It's not just the Houston police who are derelict in their duty, it's the reporter of this piece and his editor.
I just don't see the problem with one lone little old rocket launcher. Everybody knows it's guns in the hands of "right-wing" extremists that constitute terrorism. And poverty, of course. //sarc off
"Why has the Harris County DA not indicted the Houston Police Chief on this?"
Indeed, assuming, of course, the DA's office is able to do so and not under the same sort of idiotic constraints as the Police Department.
about 5 years ago in Atlanta Ga.. police found two rocket launchers lying besides the railroad tracks...it appeared they had been either fallen off or have been thrown off a moving train....nothing more was ever heard about the rocket launchers....
It's entirely possible they just fell off a military supply rail car...but it is also entirely possible they were thrown off by some "insiders"....to be retrieved by "associates".
I believe the Muslims are arming themselves to inflict some major death to infidels sometime in the future when they get their marching orders from the mosque...
The whole premise of this junk film character is flawed. What's he doing INSPECTING people who are hurt? Let him be busy inspecting himself, let him stay home and figure out what's wrong with HIM, not the world, which he looks to divide. A real creep put this garbage together.
This is the 'small stuff' that's getting found.
Makes me wonder about how much big stuff, better hidden, belonging to smarter plotters, *isn't*.
(Memo to police, FBI and CIA: if I were you I'd be working out some way to get inside, and search, whether officially or unofficially, the basements and the sub-basements of *every mosque and 'Islamic centre' and Islamic school and imam's and sheikh's house in the country*).
So....I can assume I can own a grenade launcher with no hassle from the cops or Napolitano....
I really doubt I could get away with that....