Federal Bureau of Investigation alerted about bulk cell phone purchases at Missouri Walmarts

Some of the cities where the purchases and attempted purchases are reported by police and media are Macon, Columbia, Jefferson City, Lebanon, and Ava. “It’s not right, it doesn’t make any sense”, the witness told KQFX-TV.

That purchase was about three hours after two men bought 60 cell phones at the Walmart store in Lebanon.

Columbia police on Monday learned of a suspicious incident at the Walmart at 415 Conley Road that happened at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, Officer Latisha Stroer said.

“I’m not going to say just because they’re different religion or because they’re Muslim, but these people were, they were foreign speaking, then you need to take notice and you need to let us know about it because it doesn’t hurt to check on it”, Merritt told KY3.

The Macon County Sheriff’s Office in a Wednesday Facebook posting said it’s investigating a third “recent suspicious purchase of multiple cellphones”.

The short statement provided by the Columbia Police Department does not include any details about the men who purchased the phones nor how many were bought.

Information has been collected and submitted to the FBI’s Saint Louis and Springfield offices.

Ava police say a man of Middle Eastern background bought a large number of cellular telephones at the Walmart store in Ava about 6:15 a.m. last Saturday. Police were called and interviewed the men, but did not detain them.

The Laclede County sheriff notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Terrorists use cell phones, especially the disposable pre-paid type, to communicate with each other; the cell phones can be converted for use as detonators for explosive devices.

The Washington Post reported authorities said they lacked evidence that the men meant to use the phones to commit criminal acts. A woman at the Lebanon Police Department referred inquiries to Bridget Patton, the FBI’s spokeswoman in Kansas City.

Prepaid cellphones, popular among global travelers and consumers with poor credit, also are commonly used by drug dealers and gang members because they don’t require personal data be given to the seller or service provider, masking the user’s identity.