Just when you thought you could breathe a sigh of relief about the Boston dirty bomb plot, this jumps up and bites you in the ass:

Plane Forced to Land; Dirty Bomb Link Investigated

Michelle Malkin then digs this up:

The co-owner of the plane, Afzal Hameed, is president of Alpha Tango Flying Services in San Antonio, which trains pilots and mechanics.

Guess who trained at Alpha Tango Flying Services—which, by the way, caters to Saudi Arabian flight students(!):

Among their clients were three Arab flight students investigated by the FBI, including Al Qaeda operative Abdul Hakim Murad , who was arrested in Manila in 1995 and later convicted in New York of plotting to blow up a dozen U.S. airliners over the Pacific, then crash a suicide plane into CIA headquarters.

What is going on here?

One would of thought from this story in the Washington Post on 1/21 that the plot was a hoax and that the FBI and Boston authorities were starting to relax:

But in a briefing Thursday afternoon, Massachusetts officials said that although they had gathered new information about the four Chinese and two Iraqi nationals sought for questioning, an investigation had not increased their alarm or corroborated the tip.

“There are some who would say that the information has a degree of unreliability to it,” Gov. Mitt Romney® said in response to a reporter’s question. Romney had dashed home from inaugural festivities after news reports of the threat broke.

Then, the very next day, we get this:

BOSTON — One of the 13 Chinese nationals allegedly involved in a terror plot against Boston was in custody and being questioned by authorities on Saturday, FBI sources told FOX News.

Authorities were interrogating Mei Xia Dong about her involvement in a possible terrorist plot (search) against Boston that was made public in an FBI report Friday. Airport and transit authorities responded to the report by boosting security — adding patrols, activating radiation detectors and posting pictures of some of the suspects.

Okay…so the authorities downplayed the investigation hoping to catch this Mei Xia Dong woman and some of her compatriots. This kind of disinformation is common in terrorist investigations.

I find it hugely significant that the FBI has widened the probe from trying to locate the original four illegals to where they’re now searching for 13 Chinese nationals. It sounds like they may be on to something concrete.

Here’s more on Hameed from Malkin. Evidently, he married an American woman named Taylor (in whose name the plane is registered) half his age back in 1980:

A little more info about plane owners Afzal Hameed and Alyce Taylor comes from Martin at National Terror Alert. They have been married since 1980 according to Texas public records. FYI, marriage fraud/immigration scams are common among terrorist operatives.

Reader Chris Powell notes Taylor has been a member for 16 years of a San Antonio aviation organization for women called the San Antonio 99s. So, she was involved with flying before she got married to Hameed, a convenient detail if he had married her as part of a scam. Some of the “99s” members took a trip to China in March/April of last year.

Then, today we get this definitive word from the FBI:

BOSTON — The FBI (search) said Tuesday that the possible terrorist plot reported against Boston by a tipster last week was a false alarm.

“There were in fact no terrorist plans or activity under way,” the FBI said in a statement. “Because the criminal investigation is ongoing, no further details can be provided at this time.”

To sum up, they catch this guy at the border with Mexico who claims he smuggled 2 Iraqis and 4 Chinese nationals into the country who may be planning to set off a dirty bomb. Then, the FBI, after downplaying the threat, expands the search to include 10 more Chinese nationals, dropping ANY MENTION OF THE IRAQI’S. Next thing you know, we’ve intercepted a planeload of illegal Chinese immigrants flying on a plane owned by someone who’s trained terrorists in the past. (UPDATE: The illegals have been cleared of any terrorist connection.)

What is the FBI doing and why? It would seem logical to assume that the FBI had some kind of specific threat and were (are?) trying to connect some dots. It would also seem logical to assume that this investigation is far from over, even though the FBI has said there are no terrorist plans or activity underway.

The Chinese-al Qaida connection is well established. Beijing has its own Islamofascist problem. This story from exactly a year ago:

A leading al-Qaida member has been confirmed as one of eight suspects killed in a Pakistani army operation last October (2003).

Earlier, another suspect was identified as Hasan Mahsum, who was described by China as its top “terrorist” along with 10 other ethnic Uighur Muslim separatists, all from China’s western Xinjiang region.

Mahsum was identified as a leader in the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).

Could al Qaida be using members of a cell related to the Islamic separatists in China to smuggle nuclear/dirty bomb components into the US?

Just a reminder: The Super Bowl is in 2 weeks. It’s estimated that almost 1 billion people will be watching.


UPDATE II:

Evidently the Chinese woman Ms. Mei has been in custody for a while.

Still doesn’t make me feel any better.