<a href=www.zwire.com>Herald News Staff June 01, 2003
SOMERSET -- Federal, state and local law enforcement personnel responded to the NRG Electric Generating Plant, 1606 Riverside Ave., the former Montaup Power Plant, early Saturday after a plant worker reported seeing three people dressed in scuba gear near the facility.
"An NRG employee told police that he spotted three scuba divers on a beach next to the northeast side of the plant," said Police Chief James M. Smith. "When he called to them, the three fled, leaving behind their scuba gear."
Somerset police responded and searched the area, but were unable to find anyone, Smith said.
A K-9 team from the Bristol County Sheriff’s Department was called to the scene.
The police dog "followed a scent along the shore to a nearby street," Smith said, adding that more diving gear was found along the way.
Since the divers were seen near a power plant, Smith explained, Massachusetts State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were notified. FBI agents and the State Police Bomb Disposal and Dive Team Units responded.
The Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team and U.S. Customs agents also responded.
"No explosives were found with the gear, and State Police divers checked a Polish registry coal ship docked at the plant," Smith stated.
The chief explained that the ship had arrived in Somerset from Venezuela, and it is suspected that the suspicious divers were there to retrieve drug canisters that may have been attached to the ship while it was in Venezuela.
"This is a known method of smuggling drugs," Smith said. U.S. Customs is handling the investigation.
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Name: Dr. Thunder Date: Jun, 02 2003 Drugs? Maybe... the ship passes Trinidad and Tobago on the way here, and T&T is a hotbed for Al-Quaeda controlled drug trade. However, I think these men were part of the revised Al-Quaeda initiative to cause mass casualties and disrupt the U.S. economy and infrastructure. These men were trained, informed, and there to do more than just collect a shipment of drugs. Three men just disappeared? Doesn't Somerset have sewer tunnels? Isn't there a lot of rental property down by the plant? I think the plant should buff up security measures. I think the U.S. should remember how vulnerable we are. www.cryptome.org Name: John Q Date: Jun, 01 2003 I think with the heighted threats to infrastructure, maybe there should have been armed patroling going on around such a plant as that. What if it hadn't been smugglers as assumed and been a local terror plot to explode the gas facility on Bay St.? Had that been an armed guard or officer they could have averted a disaster in the making if it were terrorists.