Breaking: Florida Terrorism Raid

Scattered reports of a large terrorism raid in southern Florida are starting to appear in the news.

"There is no imminent threat to Miami or any other area because of these operations," said Richard Kolko, spokesman for FBI headquarters in Washington. He declined to comment further.

Here a witness claims there are several agents involved:

Cedric Thomas, an owner of Thomas Produce Market, told The Miami Herald the area around his store was teeming with federal agents.

"There is a ton of guys in uniforms moving around, blocking the streets. I'm not sure what they are doing," Thomas said.

This report seems to fix the location.

''There is a ton of guys in uniforms moving around, blocking the streets. I'm not sure what they are doing,'' said Thomas, whose store, a Liberty City institution, is at 1376 NW 62nd St., near the area cordoned off by police.

State officials declined to elaborate on the investigation.

Mapquest location  Google satelite shows the location up close If it doesn't show, just type in 1376 Nw 62nd St, Miami, FL 33147-8016, US   - use satelite view and zoom in. Scott Housing Projects: "NW 68th street and 15th Avenue Miami, FL"

If you scroll a tick south and west of the location directly above you'll see what looks like a huge housing project. That's likely the area in which part of the raid took place.

Update: Said to be a number of operations and several arrests.

MIAMI (AP) -- FBI agents investigating terrorism-related activities were conducting a number of raids and made several arrests Thursday, federal officials said.

U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta said in a statement that more details about the ongoing operation would be released Friday. Local media reported that agents were raiding a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City section.

Update: CNN claims seven arrests made so far.

The FBI told CNN that seven arrests were made in connection with "suspected domestic terrorist activity," and that documents related to the investigation have been sealed.

"We are conducting a number of arrests and searches, and we'll have more about that when the operation is completed, probably tomorrow morning," FBI Director Robert Mueller told CNN's Larry King in an interview to be broadcast Thursday night.

Update: For more including video see Blogs of War and Gateway Pundit.

At HotAir

ABC News has learned that federal agents, including the FBI, are launching a series of raids tonight targeting a suspected terror cell based in Miami. According to sources familiar with the investigation, the group allegedly planned to bomb the FBI building in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago.
The group has been under surveillance for some time and was infilitrated by a government informant who allegedly led them to believe he was an Islamic radical. The suspects are described as African Americans and at least one man of Caribbean descent.

Comments

[Captain Joe]

Let's see now, Chicago is the headquarters for the NOI, right? I wonder if there's another shoe ready to drop tomorrow morning.

[windy city]

I always wondered when the tower would be a target. Hope there are not to many "homegrown" boys planning bad things for my community!

Sad state of affairs my pappy would say!

[rwilymz]

Data mining was instrumental in tracking this down. Finding patterns in financial transactions over long periods of time. Without the knowledge or permission of the banks whose records were mined.

The VA guy who broke the rules and took PA data home, where it was stolen ... the Democrats want the VA to spend $$billions$$ to track the credit of those 26.5 million vets [which includes me -- I got my little letter last week]. Tracking credit ratings looking for patterns is called "data mining".

Some other part of the government wants to data mine different data to see if there are patterns in telecommunication to and from terrorists. But this is a violation of civil rights, an invasion of privacy, because it's the NSA and not the VA or the Treasury Department.

I wonder all the wet-pantied drips are going to say about it now. Should we let the terrorists have the Sears Tower to protect our bank transactions from government snoops?

[evisoulis]

If these 7 men are truly guilty of this horrific plot, they should be sent to live in exile in Irag or Afghanistan. Not in the U.S. prison system. That's getting off too easy. I lived abroad for 3 years not knowing that I will ever return back to the U.S. to live here again. I could kiss the ground I walk on! I returned 11 years ago. Thank God!

Maybe then they will realize what it is to in a priveledged country in freedom.