ap: Al-Qaeda calls traced back to US
US federal officials say terrorists are using prepaid mobile phones and
public payphones to frustrate attempts to trace calls.
The officials said the process works like this: US intelligence learns of a communication to known al-Qaeda locations overseas and then alerts the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, who try to track down the source and origin of the US calls. [...] Investigators have found several instances in which suspected al-Qaeda calls from the United States to overseas numbers were made on prepaid mobile phones, prepaid telephone credit cards or public phone booths. One official said there had also been some instances of suspect calls made through internet-based phone services. "All this shows is that they are about as sophisticated as mafia guys from the 1990s," said Stewart Baker, a Washington lawyer who formerly served as the NSA's general counsel. (see www.news.com.au)