FBI finds terror threat was fabricated

The FBI announced yesterday that an alleged terrorist plot against Boston has turned out to be a false alarm, putting to rest concerns that rattled the city last week.

The agency said there is nothing to a tipster's report Jan. 17 that four Chinese and two Iraqis, allegedly smuggled into the country from Mexico, had sought nuclear material and were headed to Boston to launch an attack.

One member of Boston's Anti-Terrorism Advisory Committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said investigators now believe that Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinonez, the alleged tipster, made up the threat in some sort of dispute over money in a smuggling operation he was involved in.

''It has been determined that the threat had no credibility," the FBI said in a statement released on its website. ''There were in fact no terrorist plans or activity under way."

Agents from Mexico's Federal Investigation Agency located Beltran, 34, Monday in the Mexican border town of Mexicali, and he confessed to making the call, according to an official in the federal attorney general's office who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Beltran, a taxi driver in Mexicali described by his wife as an ''unstable person," told agents that he had called 911 in California from his cellphone and ''warned of possible terrorist attacks in Boston or New York," the official said. Beltran said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and had meant the call ''purely as a joke," the official said.

Beltran denied that he was involved with a smuggling ring, the official said.

The allegation of a terrorist plot sent law enforcement officials throughout Massachusetts scrambling. Boston police, the MBTA, and other agencies went on high alert, and Governor Mitt Romney canceled plans to attend President Bush's inauguration to return home to reassure the public there was no need to panic.

It began when a man called the California Highway Patrol anonymously on Jan. 17 saying that he had helped smuggle the six over the border into California, and that they were planning to obtain nuclear material and launch an attack on Boston. He directed police to a package he had tossed over a border fence, containing three visas and an identity card for the four Chinese nationals, airline ticket stubs, and baggage-claim tickets containing additional names and information. He gave no information on the Iraqis.

From the beginning, authorities stressed that the tip came from an unknown source and was uncorroborated. But they asked for the public's help in locating the people in question.

On Wednesday, the FBI and US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan released the names and photos of the four Chinese nationals -- Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen, and Guozhi Lin -- who were being sought for questioning.

The next day, the FBI said it was seeking an additional 10 people, including Beltran, for questioning in connection with the plot. On Saturday, the FBI announced that it had located one of those people, Mei Zia Dong, 21, at a US Customs and Border Protection facility in San Diego, where she had been since her arrest on Nov. 11 on an immigration violation.

The FBI said yesterday it no longer needed the public's help locating any of those who had been sought. It was unclear yesterday exactly who they were and whether they had been smuggled into the country.

But investigators believe that the smuggling ring was bringing in immigrants who come to the US seeking a better life and end up in low-level jobs, according to one federal official knowledgeable about the case.

Beltran was released yesterday and allowed to return to his house in Mexicali. He was required to remain accessible to authorities. The official from the Mexican attorney general's office could not say if Beltran will face charges and said the investigation will continue.

In a joint statement released yesterday, Sullivan and Kenneth Kaiser, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said, ''While we questioned the credibility of the source information from the very beginning, we were determined to run this out, as we always do, to ensure there was no threat to the city of Boston and the people of Massachusetts."

Joe Parris, a supervisory special agent with the FBI in Washington, wouldn't comment on whether the agency has located any of the remaining people sought for questioning, but said, ''As a terrorism matter, we no longer have an interest in them."

The FBI said its criminal investigation into the alleged smuggling will continue. The agency has referred information about the possible smuggling operation involving the Chinese nationals to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is currently reviewing it, according to Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the agency in San Diego.

Massachusetts State Police Colonel Thomas Robbins, along with other state officials yesterday, welcomed the FBI's announcement, saying troopers who had been assigned to work on the threat could be used elsewhere.

''Although it was uncorroborated at the time, we obviously had to deploy manpower based on the information that was received," said Robbins. Even though investigators were skeptical, he said, ''given the magnitude of the threat, we had to act on it right away, and knock it out of the water."

Laura Nicoll, a spokeswoman for Romney, echoed those comments, adding: ''We are relieved that this has turned out to be unfounded."

Globe correspondents Marion Lloyd, Janette Neuwahl, and Madison Park contributed to this report.