A former federal firearms instructor at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia has warned that the suspicious arrest of two Jordanian men in a box truck at the base could have been a “dry run” to test off-site security ahead of a terror attack.
He warned that if the same truck had been loaded with explosives it could have become a devastating weapon if it had travelled close enough to an inhabited building.
“The box truck drive was a dry run for a second box truck drive that was not going to be empty,” said Dave Katz, a former DEA agent and CEO and founder of Global Security Group. “Can I prove it? I can’t, but it’s the same as when the 9/11 hijackers tried to board a plane with a box cutter on another occasion before they actually committed their crimes.”
Two foreigners detained for allegedly attempting to break into major Marine Corps base
In July 2004, a vehicle passes through the main gate of Marine Corps Base Quantico. (Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images)
According to a federal 9/11 Commission report, the conspirators conducted test flights across the United States to smuggle box cutters onto the planes to determine “the optimal time to launch an assault on the cockpit.”
“This is their equivalent of a feasibility study,” Katz said. “What would happen if we tried to drive a box truck off the highway and onto the base?”
The men were unarmed and had no criminal records, and authorities have not released any evidence that there was a terrorism-related motive, but Katz said he was skeptical of excuses that the men were contract drivers for Amazon or that they may have taken a wrong turn.
Amazon said it was investigating the matter but did not believe the pair were making deliveries on its behalf.
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According to authorities, two men from Jordan arrived at the base in a box truck on May 3 and are suspected of attempting to gain access onto the base posing as delivery drivers.
Military police stopped them at the gate, but the driver ignored them and continued on into the compound.
“Through quick response and execution of their duties, officers were able to deploy vehicle-free barriers, prevent further approach to Marine Corps Base Quantico and ultimately detain the individual who was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Capt. Michael Curtis said in a statement.
Jordanian who attempted to break into Marine Corps Base Quantico was in US illegally, sources say
Drug Enforcement Administration agents simulate a raid in a tactical training facility that is part of the new National Clandestine Laboratory Training and Research Facility at the DEA Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia, Dec. 5, 2008. Both the DEA and the FBI have training facilities on the base, and earlier this month two Jordanians were arrested after a failed attempt to get onto the base posing as delivery drivers. (Tim Sloane/AFP via Getty Images)
Patrick Reckleitner, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, previously told Fox News Digital that the two men face deportation proceedings, but their identities have not been made public.
Neither ICE nor the FBI immediately responded to requests for comment.
Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins reported Thursday that at least one of the suspects illegally entered the United States in April, crossing the border from Mexico through San Diego. Critics of the Biden administration have repeatedly warned that the United States’ open southern border puts Americans at risk because enemies could sneak among migrants.
The other suspect had overstayed his student visa.
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“Somehow an overstaying student comes into contact with someone who’s in the US illegally from the other side of the country, and they both end up in a truck,” Katz said. “There’s no way to explain what’s happened other than it’s sinister.”
Quantico is a Marine Corps base and also houses FBI and DEA training facilities and laboratories, making it a potential terrorism target, Katz said.
The main gate of Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, March 22, 2013. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Does anyone have a reasonable explanation for why two illegal immigrants from Jordan would be driving a box truck through a sensitive area other than to rehearse for a future incident?” Katz said. “If you can’t explain it, it has to do with terrorism.”
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.
