FBI Looks for Foreigners in Boston Threat

The FBI is seeking four Chinese nationals in connection with an unspecified threat on the city of Boston, the agency and the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts said Wednesday.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in Washington for inaugural festivities, returned to the state after he heard the news.

Gail Marcinkiewicz, an FBI spokeswoman in Boston, said agents were “working aggressively” to investigate the threat, which came from an unknown and uncorroborated source.

She would not discuss how the FBI received the information.

U.S. Atty. Michael J. Sullivan and FBI Special Agent Kenneth W. Kaiser released photographs of the two men and two women to law enforcement agencies and the media.

They were identified as Zengrong Lin, Wen Quin Zheng, Xiujin Chen and Guozhi Lin, according to a news release issued by the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts.

None had been listed on previous government watch lists, the release said.

Authorities did not believe that the individuals were in Boston, according to Romney’s spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom.

Unconfirmed news reports indicated that the four had entered the country from Mexico through a San Diego border crossing. Jan Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the San Diego FBI office, declined to comment on the specifics, but said the agency received thousands of threats every day. This one, she said, is being probed like all others. This threat received so much attention because it was leaked to the news media, said Caldwell.

Federal and state officials emphasized that the information was of “unknown reliability,” and that law enforcement agencies were working together to assess any potential threat.

“The Department of Homeland Security is working with the FBI and our partners in the intelligence community to analyze and assess recently received and uncorroborated information concerning a potential threat to Boston,” said Kathleen Montgomery, a Homeland Security spokeswoman.

In Washington, Romney tried to reassure the residents of his home state. “We’re taking action to make sure we’re in a state of readiness,” he said.

Fehrnstrom said the governor, a Republican, was going back to Boston so he would be available if needed, and to demonstrate to the people of Boston that he was confident of their safety.

“Gov. Romney wanted to reassure the people of Massachusetts that it’s safe, and he plans on sleeping in Boston tonight,” Fehrnstrom said.

“We’ve received threats in the past that have turned out to be unfounded. But of course we will take this new information seriously until such time that we can safely dismiss it,” he added.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino told a news conference that he would go about his usual business, and he urged everyone to do the same.

“Public safety is our first priority,” Menino said.

Times staff writers Elizabeth Mehren in Boston and Richard Marosi in San Diego contributed to this report.