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FACT CHECK ; No capture of ISIS agent on U.S. soil [Florida Times Union](Florida Times Union Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The Internet is rife with an email and photo of Houston police officers supposedly arresting a suspected terrorist who was wearing body armor with the ISIS insignia. The facts: The story and photo - which hardly shows anything discernible - have been published on disreputable websites and sent around on social media, stating that the American media has been lax in reporting something so important. There have been no stories of such an arrest in the mainstream media. Despite what the email says about media inattention, capturing an ISIS operative on American soil would be a huge news story. So the fact that there is no mention of the arrest anywhere but questionable websites makes the email unreliable. And, as Snopes.com points out, you would have to wonder why a terrorist would walk around the U.S. in something that prominently identifies his ISIS affiliation. In addition, other photos with the email show the suspect posing next to police officers, with both smiling away. Snopes.com speculates that the photos show either a police training exercise or some form of performance/prank. A similar photo of a man in ISIS-like clothing at a Houston deli has been making the rounds of Facebook and Reddit along with the image sent in the email. The origin of that photo is currently unknown, Snopes.com reports, but there's no evidence that it is the arrest of a genuine ISIS operative. An ABC7 report out of Northern California states: "It's more difficult than many may think to get some real answers or responses about the picture that has been going around [of a man supposedly wearing an ISIS logo at a Houston restaurant]. The FBI said they know about this story, but they were not aware of any arrests being made and were also unaware of any specific credible threats within the Houston territory." (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |