A thwarted plot to cripple the telecommunications system in New York was bigger than investigators first realized, adding to the urgency of their search for answers, sources told ABC News.
Federal agents discovered additional locations and more equipment as they work to determine the ultimate goal of what the U.S. Secret Service said was a China-linked plot that could have crippled every cell tower in the nation’s largest city, jammed 911 calls, and unleashed chaos on communications networks.
Agents from Homeland Security Investigations found an additional 200,000 SIM cards at a location in New Jersey, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
That’s double the 100,000 SIM cards, along with hundreds of servers, that were recently seized at five other vacant offices and apartments in and around the city.
Investigators secured each of those locations, seized the electronics, and are now trying to track down who rented the spaces and filled them with shelves full of gear capable of sending 30 million anonymous text messages every minute, overloading communications and blacking out cellular service in a city that relies on it for emergency response and counterterrorism.
“The potential threat these data centers pose to the public could include shutting down critical resources that the public needs, like the 911 system, or potentially impacting the public’s ability to communicate everything, including business transactions,” said Don Mihalek, an ABC News contributor who was formerly with the Secret Service.
According to sources, the investigation began after several high-level people, including at least one with direct access to President Donald Trump, were targeted not only by swatters but also with actual threats received on their private phones.
Authorities have so far made no arrests.