Terror Threat Closes Fla. Highway
By CATHERINE WILSON
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI (AP) -- Three people in two cars that ran an interstate toll booth were detained Friday, and Alligator Alley, the main east-west highway through the Everglades, was shutdown because of a possible terrorist threat.
Bomb-sniffing dogs alerted authorities to material in both vehicles, but no explosives were immediately found, said E.J. Picolo of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Authorities blasted open what appeared to be a backpack taken from one of the vehicles.
"We're taking it very serious until we can eliminate the possibility of a threat or verify that there was a legitimate threat," Picolo said.
Picolo said all three people in the vehicles had been identified and were legally in the country, but he would not provide futher information about them. The three were being detained and had not been arrested, he said.
The cars, both with Illinois license plates, remained on Interstate 75 about 50 yards apart. The Florida Highway Patrol shut down a 20-mile stretch after 1 a.m., when the vehicles were stopped.
Two bomb squad technicians in hoods and protective blast suits removed a suitcase and plastic bags from one car and searched the interior and trunk. A robot was also brought to the scene, though it wasn't immediately clear how it would be used.
Police had tracked down the cars after one of them ran a toll plaza, Lt. John Bagnardi of Florida Highway Patrol told CNN. He said the people pulled over were uncooperative and refused to allow a search. Authorities brought in the bomb-sniffing dogs.
The highway was still closed more than eight hours later.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation had issued an advisory for the same two cars Thursday after a waitress in Calhoun, Ga., in the northwestern part of that state, told police she overheard three men who appeared to be Middle Eastern descent discussing terrorist plans Wednesday night.
The Georgia woman said the men were talking about amounts of explosives and warned that Americans would "cry on 9/13," said Miami Police Lt. Bill Schwartz, quoting from the Georgia advisory.
Alligator Alley is the main road from Naples to Fort Lauderdale across the Everglades in South Florida.
The highway patrol said the road was blocked off from a toll booth east of Naples to State Road 29.
