This is the Mackinac Bridge. Yes, it’s very pretty, isn’t it? So their photos could have been tourist shots. But with the phones and everything else, suspicions linger.
From The Detroit News, :
DEARBORN HEIGHTS — Three Texas men once suspected in a possible plot to blow up the Mackinac Bridge were released from jail today after more than 10 days in custody.
Terrorism-related charges against Maruan Muhareb, 18; Adham Othman, 21; and Louai Othman, 23, were withdrawn by the Tuscola County prosecutor last Wednesday after the FBI and Michigan State Police said there was no evidence linking the men to terrorism.
They were arrested in Caro in Michigan’s Thumb on Aug. 11 after police found about 1,000 cell phones and photos of the Mackinac Bridge inside their van.
Nabih Ayad, the Dearborn Heights lawyer representing the men, said the photos were tourist shots and the men are entrepreneurs who bought the phones to sell for a profit. They are victims of ethnic profiling, Ayad said.
But the same day the state charges were dropped, the federal government brought charges of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and money-laundering. The federal charges relate to an alleged plot to alter the phones software and defraud cell phone companies and consumers through their resale.