Port of Miami On Heightened Alert

Fox News is reporting that the Port of Miami is on a heightened state of alert, following the discovery of two middle eastern men hiding in a truck, the driver of which aroused suspicion when giving inconsistent answers to an inspector.

I don't see any web news stories about it, including at the Fox News website, but I'll keep an eye out.

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Update: There it is.

The container truck was stopped near the cargo-area entrance to the port around 8 a.m. and the driver of the vehicle, who had valid port identification, was questioned by authorities.

"The driver of the 18-wheeler was apparently asked several questions — we're told routine questions — and at one point, he said he was alone," FOX News' Nancy Harmeyer said.

Police became suspicious and discovered two men hiding in the sleeper cab of the 18-wheeler. All three men are of Middle Eastern descent.

"At this time we don't know why they were here, what they were planning to do, or quite honestly even if the driver knew that the two men were back there," Harmeyer said.

The driver reportedly is of Iraqi descent and one of the other two is a Lebanese national; the third is also believed to be Middle Eastern and early reports stated authorities have a warrant out for one of the three but none of the detained is on a terror watch list, sources said.

The driver told officials he needed a day pass to deliver something, but it was unclear what that was.

At 1:45 p.m. EST, a Customs and Border Protection agent entered the truck, which was escorted by police deeper into the Port, possibly for X-ray screening.

"They're investigating what's inside the container," Miami Police Department Deputy Chief Frank Fernandez said.

Cargo operations at the port are relatively quiet on weekends, but there are six major cruise ships currently tied up.  A fuel truck that arrived to refuel one of the ships was turned away due to the alert, so the incident, whether something or nothing, appears to be taking a tangible toll of at least inconvenience (and probably a decent amount of distress) on thousands of people.  [Update: 3 of the 6 ships have left port and the other 3 are expected to do so shortly.]

A joint news conference with DHS, the FBI, the Coast Guard, border patrol, and local police is scheduled for 3:30 4ish 4:45 pm.

According to FNC's Orlando Salinas, authorities inspected the truck with a VACIS (Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System), a gamma-ray imaging system like the one below (from the manufacturer's product page).

The VACIS inspection presumably now complete, a hazmat truck reportedly has recently arrived at the scene.  [Update:  The hazmat truck has reportedly now left the scene, though the bomb squad remains.]

Maybe that hazmat inspection was what's been holding up the press conference.  With it completed (and seemingly without uncovering anything hazardous), if something nefarious was afoot, it seems more likely that the 3 men were looking to make a pick-up, not a delivery.

Elsewhere:  Wizbang, Blogs of War, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit

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Update:

From the press conference:

At no time was the port closed, nor was there an interruption of cruise and cargo.  At around 8 am, the truck arrived at main gate, but because the driver did not have the required port ID, he was directed to the  commercial vehicle inspection station for a one day pass, pending a routine background investigation.  Port security discovered the 2 stowaways, one of whom had no identification.  That, combined with "miscommunication" between the driver and the inspector, comprised the suspicious behavior that led to the alert.

The truck was carrying electronic automotive parts, as stated in the manifest.

Upon questioning, the Miami PD representative clarified that the "miscommunication" was in fact the lie that the driver told about being alone.  I don't know that that's a "miscommunication".

All three men are in the United States legally.  Two are Iraqi nationals and one is a Lebanese national.  She didn't exactly answer when asked what excuse was given for the undisclosed passengers, but said that one was a "friend" of the driver and the other his brother.  The men work for an unspecified company in Dearborn, Michigan.

The conference was all pretty muddy and disorganized (especially considering they'd delayed it by 2 hours), but the moral of the story seems to be that (while the FBI is said to be quetioning them still), authorities are basically satisfied that there's nothing more sinister here than some possible "administrative" infractions.

We may now all brace for the inevitable CAIR carping.  How dare we detain these three middle eastern men, just because they're trying to sneak past security into a busy port with a 40-foot cargo truck?