$500K Seized; Strange Situation Reported At Nuclear Plant

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/8821721/detail...

Two workers looking for tools set off a security situation at a Beaver County nuclear power plant that drew a response from police and federal investigators, WTAE Channel 4's Paul Van Osdol reported.

State police said the men drove up to the Beaver Valley Power Station in a tractor-trailer on Tuesday night to pick up two large containers of tools for a contractor for whom they worked.

Security guards stopped the men for a routine inspection, but they drove away, police said.

The guards became suspicious and called police, who pulled the truck over about a mile from the plant.

A state trooper got a warrant to search the vehicle and found a duffel bag, which he said contained $504,230 in mostly small bills.

[elehhhhna]

1. I was gonna post it. The men are from Houston btw.

[BeHereNow]

17. Houston eh? Imagine that...n/t

bhn

[Tight_rope]

169. Houston?...I live in Houston...I bet they are shady characters.

Seams like Bushco is up to something.

[goforit]

269. GHWB....arranging dirty business once again.

[midnight]

285. I 'm trying to imagine it.

When I do, I imagine that they were paid to steal nuclear material to plant else where-maybe Iran. Then U.S. could say that Iran was doing what we wanted to say they were doing,and we could go to war with them. But that was just an imagining I had.

[Kailassa]

290. Beaver Valley had just replaced its fuel rods.

So the owners, FENOC, had 56 to 60 hot fuel assemblies to dispose of.

So I doubt anything was being stolen. It was just being set up in such a way that the owners could later deny knowing anything about it.

The truck was organised by Bechtel, who have close connections with Cheney, worked hard at bringing about the war with Iraq, and have profited immensely from the war.

The truck was sent from Chicago, where a "terror drill" involving a simulation of a a dirty bomb attack is being held between the 1st and the 4th of this month.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=10137

Bush has already indicated that if any "terror" incident takes place in America, he will attack Iran in retaliation, even if the attack cannot be linked with Iran.

(See a later post of mine for more details. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph... )

[patriothackd]

293. Bechtel also has ties to Diebold

Wasn't there a Bechtel on the Diebold board of directors?

Check for Battelle fingerprints too.

[wordpix]

139. The men were released? WTF? Picking up tools in the middle of the night

with a tractor trailer??? With $500K in tow that they picked up in Chicago but don't know anything about?

snip: The men, who are from Houston, said they picked up the bag in Chicago and had no knowledge of its contents, according to police.

Investigators think the cash may have a drug connection. A police dog picked up the scent of drugs in the sleeper cab of the truck where the bag was found, police said.

Both men were detained and later released. No charges have been filed.

[ktlyon]

219. maybe they were going to pickup a couple pounds of coke

on the way home

[area51]

229. or maybe...

... they needed the money to completely gas up the truck before returning to Houston.

[ktlyon]

235. yes that could be true, I thought of that after I posted

We are all going to need a big bag of money to fill-up soon.

or maybe they were bringing coke to Chicago and the money was from the sale, but Houston, home of GHWB wouldn't have coke for sale would it?

[Boojatta]

260. self-delete

[wordpix]

142. K&R!

[Jack from Charlotte]

171. Maybe just trying to pay last months power bill? (nt)

*

[livetohike]

2. My husband worked there (Shippingport) in the 70's

It was the first nuke plant built in the US.

[stillcool]

3. pretty cryptic....

aside from a duffel bag full of small bills, and a dog catching a whiff of something....

[Skink]

4. Probably nothing.......

[stillcool]

5. nice chunk of change....strange place to pick up tools...

no names, no trucking company name, ...Nothing?

[AuntiBush]

44. Odd

They were released! Not considered anything to do with possible terrorist? Strange story. No info. With you on that, stillcool47.

[Occulus]

29. Half a million bucks is a strange definition of 'nothing.' n/t

[sarcasmo]

138. Pay off for someone at the plant, IMHO.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

170. lol.

"must be nothing"

[cassiepriam]

6. Half a million must be the going price for stolen nuc material?? nt

[Peter Frank]

74. Good Catch!..

...unless there were some extremely expensive tools there -- to be paid for with un-tracable cash.

[cassiepriam]

94. They were going for the uranium, or whatever they need to make a bomb.

Seems obvious to me folks.

[MadHound]

124. If they were stealing uranium, it would be quite obvious

And the state troopers would have found it quickly. The amount of uranium needed for a bomb is enough uranium to need some serious shielding, otherwise the two truckers, the state troopers, and their dog too, would all be dead right now. Bomb grade uranium and plutonium is highly radioactive, and they would have had to shield it in a lead pig, slipped into a DU container, slid into a wood or metal overpack. All told, the package would have been about five by five by five feet aprox., and weighed close to a half a ton. Not very easy to hide.

[Kailassa]

137. The men were driving a tractor-trailer,

and were intending to pick up two LARGE containers. There had been a security alert at the plant a week earlier, which may have been triggered by someone stealing something, or may have been triggered in order to empty the plant to make a theft possible. If this is what happened, I'm sure it would have been packed as you describe before the truckies got there to pick it up.

Apparently they never picked up the containers, because the security at the plant got suspicious, rang the police, and the guys left fast.

So the state troopers never got to see the containers.

I wonder if the people who organised it will try again, or did the security guys do America a huge favor and prevent something bad long-term.

[cassiepriam]

145. They were just dropping the money off, pick up came later?

This was just a partial payment and examination of the goods?

[katty]

243. yes-seems pretty obvious

[TexasLawyer]

7. I hope authorities inspected the

"two large containers" too.

And in a legitimate, non-shady pick-up of the equipment, wouldn't the truck drivers submit to an inspection of their truck?

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

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[NoodleyAppendage]

18. Thinking the same thing...I guess they were working on the 2006 MIHOP

The midterm elections are getting close, so it's time to ramp up the terrorism/fear card to placate the masses. It's like clockwork.

J

[BeHereNow]

20. Isn't it pathetic that we think such things?

How sad.
But how understandable.
BHN

[fushuugi]

72. agreed, especially the latter ^_^ (n/t)

[wordpix]

140. unfotunately the cops let the guys go...move along...nothing happening...

[goforit]

270. Yep!

[orleans]

32. hahaha!

(but i don't get beherenow's art student factor)

[Name removed]

54. Deleted sub-thread

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[Name removed]

55. Deleted sub-thread

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[OzarkDem]

9. Strange coverage of this story - FBI & Homeland Security

Police say the two men picked it up in Chicago, but didn't know what was inside? Homeland Security involved, of course.

http://www.wtov9.com/news/8834479/detail.html


Security stopped the truck and did a routine inspection. During that search the security discovered a padlocked duffel bag, and opened it up.

Inside they found more than $500,000, but police said the men left after the search.

However, security did contact state police, and the two men in the truck were pulled over.

State police said a drug dog detected the scent of drugs on the money, and they confiscated it.

Now the FBI and Homeland Security are involved. The worry is that the money may be connected to terrorist activity. However, the men claim they picked it up in Chicago and didn't know what was inside. State Police say they believe them.

"At this time we do not believe it was associated with the power plant," said Sgt. Douglas Humble, of the Pennsylvania State Police.

Officials at the plant said the incident is a good sign that their security measures are working.

Police are still investigating.

[sofa king]

14. Interesting. And a "drug dog" heist, to boot.

Corrupt police around the nation have been making good money by using the "drug dog" heist. Any large sum of cash has traces of illegal drugs on it. The cops grab it and sometimes nobody asks for it back. Free money.

This time, however, I've got a hunch that someone very, very well connected with the federal government is going to want it back. Won't that be interesting to see?

[gorgan]

237. 4th amendment died years ago

your property can be seized on the 'word' of a dog???? Cops take cars, houses, anything of value, on the slimmest of pretexts. The work Gonzalez and Bush have been doing on the 4th is just the final few nails in its coffin.

[BeHereNow]

19. "they picked it up in Chicago" FOR WHO?

As in the old adage, "Follow the money..."
WHO did they pick up the money for?
That is the question that should be asked.
Someone told them to pick it up.
Unfortunately, we will probably never know
as the story will most likely disappear.
BHN

[AuntiBush]

45. $500,000. That's HALF a MIL!

So we have:

Half a million bucks.
Strange travel - long distant at that.
No names mentioned, no trucking firm, nada.
Nuke Power Plant
Duffel Bag

Trying to get this straight. We've witnessed Senators fleeing out of DC buildings if they see anything strange over the last several years, but this story is strange.

Got the creeps now! I live near one of those ports and heard a lot of drills going on today.

[struggle4progress]

57. No one claims $500,000 stash in truck

Thursday, April 20, 2006
By Cindi Lash, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When security guards at the Beaver Valley Power Station discovered a bag containing thousands of dollars in a tractor-trailer cab, one of the vehicle's occupants told them his boss planned to use the cash to buy a truck.

It must have been some truck.

State police said the bag, which guards spotted on Tuesday while conducting a routine search of the tractor-trailer at the entrance to the nuclear power plant, contained 10 plastic-wrapped bundles of cash totaling $504,230.

Police later seized the money and bag after a dog trained to detect drugs sniffed and reacted to the bag, indicating contact with controlled substances. <snip>

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06110/683609-57.stm

[glitch]

123. Controlled substances isn't just drugs it's also explosives. Curiouser. nt

[acmavm]

217. VERY telling paragraph!!!!!!!!!

<snip>

The truckers worked for a company hired by San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., which is performing construction work and replacing equipment at the plant, said Richard Wilkins, spokesman for plant owner First Energy Nuclear Operating Co.

<snip>

[wordpix]

141. why did cops let these suspicious characters go? No charges even tho drug

s sniffed by dogs. ?

[ktlyon]

221. from what I understand a lot of our cash has drug residue on it

so wash your hands or use credit cards

[OKthatsIT]

177. Good Going, Security Guards!

Phew...I know I'm sleeping better knowing OUR CITIZENS are keeping an eye out!

[dansolo]

184. The Chicago link is strange

I seem to recall maybe about two months back that there was an auto accident that made the news because one of the people involved had a fairly large amount of money with him, and there were other suspicious things about it. The news mentioned how the FBI was contacted, but then I heard nothing about it since then. I wonder if there is a connection.

http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_054125222...

[goforit]

271. Contact FBI? Why? They take information and burn it!

[Blue_Tires]

10. strange...

[Ecumenist]

11. Huh?? Okay, now that's just a wee bit creepy...

and completely frightening

[TexasLawyer]

12. video has a different version of events

than the write up.

If I heard correctly-- the bag was left behind at the power plant when the men took off. An important point since if the guys were merely transporting it from point A to point B, then why was it ever off the truck?

The scent of the drugs was on the money and not on just in the truck cab.

[anotherdrew]

23. they left the money at the plant? but left without the 'tools'?

this stinks, we need a nationwide private investigative body for things like this. Right now someone like moveon should be hiring about 4 private detectives to track and trace everything involving this matter. Instead, as pointed out by someone else, this will disappear down the memory hole...

[Lostnote06]

38. This Has Legs....Cheneys Energy Task Force In Fruition...geesh

[TexasLawyer]

13. At least the PA Emergency Management Agency is on top of this

Just kidding-- Here's there latest, hot-off-the-wires news alert:

PEMA NEWS
Search PEMA Home Back Printable Version Text-Only Full-Screen

Recent PEMA News Releases

03/31/06
FIRE COMMISSIONER REMINDS PENNSYLVANIANS TO CHANGE SMOKE-ALARM BATTERIES WHEN CHANGING CLOCKS THIS WEEKEND

http://www.pema.state.pa.us/pema/cwp/browse.asp?a=221&p... |

[Lostnote06]

15. I guess that I would prefer to be....

......high as a kite to work at place such as that.....Hush money???.....maybe they sprung a leak in a pipeline leading up to the back of the potable water reservoir in the toilet, thank Gawd they haven'nt flushed yet....."sweet nuclear tea" in the springtime.....

[formercia]

21. In what currency does that come out in round numbers? n/t

[Thor_MN]

27. 25,211 $20s and a $10? 10,084 $50s and 3 $10s? 5,042,300 dimes?

The Change Bank can make you aware of change possibilities that you haven't thought of.

[formercia]

101. I should have specified foreign currency n/t

[Tyrone Slothrop]

196. How do we make money?

One word.

Volume.

[progressoid]

35. Good question.

I just did a few quick conversions at this site: http://www.xe.com/ucc/full.shtml
But I didn't come up with any round numbers from any major currencies. Of course with rates changing daily it's hard to tell.

[mccoyn]

276. How about 1/2 million plus costs?

The next question is who working at the plant has recently spent $4230?

[Kailassa]

279. Who says it's a worker?

Disposing of the used fuel assemblies is an ever worsening problem for the owners of nuclear power plants, after they get more than they can legally keep on the property.

Receiving a million dollars and having the hot fuel rods disposed of, and being able to charge for the packaging too, might an offer FENOC could not refuse.

And Fenoc had just completed a fuel assembly replacement, leaving them with 56 to 60 hot assemblies to dispose of.

[sendero]

22. This is easy..

.... let whoever was supposed to get the money come get it.

[BeHereNow]

24. I can't believe this thread is sinking. KICK...n/t

bhn

[IowaGuy]

25. kick n/t

[electron_blue]

26. this is weird enough - w/o the halfmillion dollars.

even more creepy with the $ involved.

[Janice325]

28. Kick!

k&r

[OzarkDem]

30. A First Energy plant

First Energy is a big supporter of the GOP, and owner of the power plants that caused the blackout in Ohio and the NE a few years ago.

It doesn't make sense. Why would a couple of truckers be walking into a power plant with a locked duffle bag filled with half a million dollars.

Only two news stories about this on google.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/trib/pmu...

[lala_rawraw]

31. Okay, this should raise issues

The FBI is saying that they don't think violence or what not was the plan. But let us consider the basics, that is the forensics of this.

-Houston, 2 men, drive to Chicago to pick up duffle bag?
-The duffle bag has 500k in it, which they claim they did not know about? (So you drove all the way to Chicago to pick up a bag of nothing? Right!)
-They then drive to Pen to pick up tools? Just what kind of tools are wroth that kind of mileage?
-The cash was in small bills? That kind of money???
-Why is their contractor not named?

What we need to know is a). who they are and b). who they were working for in order to answer c). what they were doing at that facility. The FBI has not given us a, other than geographical info, nor have they given us b, so it appears that we are stuck with a speculative c.

On the face of it, it is incredibly suspect if for nothing more than a drug deal or such. Remember, Chicago is the hot bed of mafia activity right now too.

[AuntiBush]

47. And the Story States they were in a Tractor-Trailer

So, add picking-up a duffel bag in a tractor trailer to the basics.

Creepy, strange.

[Horse with no Name]

162. Just a side thought

Does the Dubai group run any ports in Pennsylvania and if they do--is it possible that whatever "tools" they picked up came from another country?
In other words--->Originated in Houston (port city--who runs the ports-I know Dubai runs the Beaumont port which is not far from Houston) then they go to Chicago then drive to another port?
Something really stinks.

On edit: Both the Port of Houston and the Port of Philadelphia were included in the Dubai Port deal.
Things that make you go hmmmm....

[Lochloosa]

33. kick for weirdness

[girl gone mad]

34. What?

No totaled stolen Enzo Ferrari's involved? Average corruption is just getting to be passe.

[Ghost Dog]

82. Uh Huh

[Lostnote06]

36. Cheneys New Energy Policy in Fruition......

[Kailassa]

110. nuther kick n/t

[Beam Me Up]

37. .

[Junkdrawer]

39. THEY LET THE TRUCKERS GO, BUT DETAINED REPORTERS?

[uppityperson]

42. teach those reporters to take pictures

of a (insert place here).

[Junkdrawer]

43. Whose idea was it to let the guys go? My money's on the FBI... n/t

[lala_rawraw]

77. I don't think so...

I think DHS, because the agent in charge of that field office, I am told is "a stand up guy." It would be his call to drop these guys. But we shall see, because I could not get anyone on the phone long enough to answer a single question.

[Dunvegan]

90. I agree, Lala. It was a DHS decision.

The FBI would have been all over this like a dirty shirt, unless they were over-ruled.

Now, who has the power (in this Administration) to stand-down the FBI? The overseeing DHS does.

[Dunvegan]

91. Yes...Bechtel is involved.

No one claims $500,000 stash in truck

Thursday, April 20, 2006
By Cindi Lash, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The truckers worked for a company hired by San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., which is performing construction work and replacing equipment at the plant, said Richard Wilkins, spokesman for plant owner First Energy Nuclear Operating Co.

[KittyWampus]

125. at least they're putting out a decent cover story now...

[0007]

192. A flat bed truck to pick up tools? Equipment yes, but not tools.

This stinks!

[wordpix]

143. who does the agent "stand up" for? BushCo criminals?

[wordpix]

159. where is this report?

[lala_rawraw]

210. i cannot find the reporters info, but need it...

am writing this up for huffpo, calling in help as am now groping in the dark on this

[TexasLawyer]

220. Thank you SO much

for following through on this. "Inquiring minds" want to know what happened!

[preciousdove]

40. Kick

[Blue_Tires]

41. kick for the 'WTF' factor

[TexasLawyer]

46. News about the plant from last week

Business news briefs: 4/15/06

Saturday, April 15, 2006
From staff and wire reports


Nuclear plant back on line

FirstEnergy Corp.'s Beaver Valley nuclear unit 2 in Shippingport is back to full power after the sprinkler system was triggered accidentally on Tuesday, prompting the company to take the plant down to 20 percent power. The Nuclear Energy Regulatory Commission said a complete shutdown was unnecessary, and the unit was back at full power Wednesday afternoon. The replacement of water-damaged charcoal filters is nearly complete, a company spokeswoman said, while an investigation into the cause of the sprinkler system's activation continues.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06105/682344-28.stm

[AuntiBush]

48. Kicked!

[Kailassa]

49. "putting on detective hat"

One possible explanation:

Villain wants nuclear material.
Villain arranges for accomplice at plant to put nuclear material into tool containers.
Villain gives 2 men 1/2 a million in small notes as down-payment to pick the stuff up and deliver it.
Police get involved so the 2 men part with their down-payment as a bribe.
The police turn a blind eye to the containers of "tools" being transported.

It's interesting that these were large containers, needing a tractor-trailer o carry them, but in both stories the containers just "disappear".

[Junkdrawer]

50. Well the truck was from Liddy/McCord/Hunt trucking...

if that's a clue.

[stillcool]

51. Ohferchrissakes...

I almost went to google that...

[Junkdrawer]

52. Doesn't this remind you of the botched Watergate break in?

Question is, do we have any reporters willing to followup on this one?

[stillcool]

64. Now that you mention it...

an image comes to mind of the dudes from Miami being arraigned, with high-powered attorneys by their side, sending the red flags up for Woodward and Bernstein.

[wordpix]

144. well these guys, it appears, won't be arraigned. Someone's been paid off

DHS? FBI?

[stillcool]

157. at least their names are out there...

and a highly suspect story should garner the attention of those who know how to play this game.

[wordpix]

188. IF those are real names. Remember, one "lost" his ID when it was "stolen"

[midnight]

286. Doesn't it though.

Weren't they from Houston too?

[cassiepriam]

283. Bingo, I think you got it right! nt

[TexasLawyer]

53. FYI-- lots of pictures of Beaver Valley

http://www.nukeworker.com/pictures/displayimage.php?alb...

And what looks like information on BV security system.

http://www.nuclearsecurity.com/pdfs/case_beaver.pdf

[Pirate Smile]

56. Whaaaaa?

[Junkdrawer]

58. MORE DETAILS IN...BECHTEL INVOLVED:

....

The truckers worked for a company hired by San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp., which is performing construction work and replacing equipment at the plant, said Richard Wilkins, spokesman for plant owner First Energy Nuclear Operating Co.

The name of the company was not released, but police said the truckers had come from Chicago and were making a scheduled stop to pick up and transport containers of tools to Youngstown, Ohio.

....

In the search, the officers found a green, blue and black duffel bag with a padlock in the sleeper berth of the cab, Trooper Bayer said. The truckers didn't have a key for the lock, so guards cut it off and spotted cash inside, he said.

The truckers said the money wasn't theirs and they didn't know how it got there, Trooper Bayer said. In court papers filed to obtain a search warrant, state police said one of the truckers told security officers that "it was their money and he was going to buy a truck with it."

But when the security workers called the truckers' boss in Houston, he also said he knew nothing about the money. The security officers called police, but the truckers backed out of the plant and drove off.

.....


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06110/683609-57.stm

[Junkdrawer]

59. FYI: The Bechtel-Cheney connection:

http://www.greatdreams.com/political/bechtel.htm

[LiberalHeart]

63. Sooo, the guy has no ID ... but the feds say this ain't about terrorism?

I wonder if all their investigations are this thorough. Oh, no ID? Okay. Then just run along ... have a nice day.

[wordpix]

147. I found that strange too---and then they let these guys GO! WTF?

[IA_Seth]

257. Well he was white dang it...

All us good Amurkins know that whites ain't no god fersakin terrists!




Sarcasm and all that.

[TexasLawyer]

65. Does not compute

Three items reported in the article:


"The money was found in the sleeper berth of the cab"-- (of a truck on a cross country journey with a driver and a passenger. So they would have been tripping over/sleeping with that duffel bag 24/7).

"The truckers said the money wasn't theirs and they didn't know how it got there," (How did they know that the contents were precious, needed to be guarded, kept in sleeper cab, etc...).


"one of the truckers told security officers that "it was their money and he was going to buy a truck with it." (so they DID know how it got there).

hmmmmm

Also this part of the story was very odd:

"Police broadcast a description of the truck and Sgt. Davis pulled it over after spotting it on Route 168 south, near the Shippingport Bridge. He said the truckers were polite, but the passenger had no identification and said it had been stolen from the truck the night before.

"Your ID is stolen but not that bag of cash? Red flags were popping up all over," Sgt. Davis said."

[0007]

191. Where was the passenger at the power plant. Did they open

the bag at the power plant or the Shippingport Bridge.

What a strange fucking story.

[mccoyn]

277. It was a flatbed truck.

The only place they could have kept the duffel was in the cab. Of course, they had to know what it was or at least where it came from. Thats just a lie. Same thing about a stolen ID. Both these are suspected lies though. They couldn't arrest them for it.

There was zero evidence of a crime, so they got to go. Freedom from excesive detainment doesn't apply to just you and me you know.

[lala_rawraw]

75. So I called the feds/PA to see what I could get...

And i was put on hold, over and over and over and over. I just kept hitting redial. Now usually what they do is transfer you to the press secretary or his/her voicemail, in this case, i was dropped, transfered and put on hold. Very odd indeed. I am going to call national feds in the morning. It is 3 am and I must sleep finally for a good 2 hours (blah).

[Junkdrawer]

97. Somebody needs to cover this...the current "drug deal gone bad"...

thing doesn't pass the laugh test.

[myrna minx]

109. Thanks for looking into this lala.

This is really creepy and doesn't pass the smell test.