International ferry terrorism search called off: they were just tourists
Since last summer, the FBI has been on the lookout for two men who were seen taking a deep interest in a car-ferry in Seattle. The men were believed to be terrorists, plotting to blow up the ferry.Actually, they were tourists who'd never seen a car ferry and thought it was cool.
Last summer, the FBI launched an international search for two men after crew members and riders on a Washington State Ferry reported their unusual behavior – namely that they were taking pictures below deck, in areas that don't hold much interest for most tourists.Link (via Schneier)A ferry captain snapped their photo, which was passed along to the FBI.
Turns out the men, both citizens of a European Union nation, were captivated by the car-carrying capacity of local ferries.
"Where these gentlemen live, they don't have vehicle ferries. They were fascinated that a ferry could hold that many cars and wanted to show folks back home," FBI Special Agent Robbie Burroughs said Monday.
Where not otherwise specified, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States and other countries.