BOSTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. law officers investigating an anonymous tip of a dirty bomb threat against Boston have become suspicious of the caller's motives.
In three cell phone calls to California authorities, the person who said four Chinese and two Iraqis were planning a crude nuclear attack in Boston mentioned a "white male" known to the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Boston Herald reported Friday.
"It could be a drug deal gone bad and he's using this threat of a terrorist attack to bring a ton of heat down on someone," one source told the newspaper. "It could be someone getting 'dimed' out because someone is (angry)."
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said investigators have learned more about the original four Chinese nationals, with the result that the caller's credibility has slipped.
"(The six) don't appear on anybody's watch list," he said. "They're not people of interest until we got an unnamed, unknown caller with regard to identifying these people as somebody that were smuggled into the country. We can't even confirm at this point in time that those individuals are in the country."
