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Texas Plumbing Company Can’t Figure Out How Its Truck Ended Up In The Hands Of Islamic Militants

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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A Ford truck once used to haul around plumbing equipment near Houston is now being used as a military vehicle in the Syrian civil war, forcing the vehicle’s previous owner to deny that he’s linked to terrorists.

The confusion began when a picture appeared on the Twitter account of Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, a faction of Chechens fighting in the Syrian civil war, which shows a black Ford F-250 truck equipped with a large gun bearing the name and phone number of Mark-1 Plumbing, a company based in Texas City and owned by Mark Oberholtzer.

Oberholtzer’s son, Jeff, says he has no idea how the truck ended up in militants’ hands, but because of angry callers he has been forced to deny having any ties to terrorism.

“We have nothing to do with terror at all,” he told KHOU.

The plumbing company traded in the truck last November to an AutoNation Ford dealership. The dealer told KHOU that the truck was then sold at auction and likely changed hands several times before ending up in the middle of a civil war halfway around the world.

After the confusion, Oberholtzer said the company will begin removing all decals from retired work trucks.

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