Not one of those people made any effort to communicate this knowledge to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or to any other lawenforcement agency. If the saboteurs had not been subject to military jurisdiction. the maximum penalty which could have been given to them in an ordinary criminal court would probably have been 2 years. for the crime of conspiring to commit sabotage. They had landed in the United States illegally but they were punishable for this only by minor penalties under the immigration statutes. they had collected large quantities of explosives and incendiary devices. but for this they may have been guilty only of illegal possession of explosives. Since they were apprehended by the Federal Bureau of Investigation before they could make any real start on their program of sabotage. they were probably not guilty of an attempt to commit sabotage. Although they possessed a formula for secret ink and undoubtedly intended to communicate with each other and with Germany. it is doubtful whether or not they had yet engaged in any act of espionage or in any attempt at espionage under existing law.
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immigration