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Queens man suspected of al-Qaeda ties
NEW York City police and the FBI have raided homes in the borough of Queens as part of an investigation that has tracked a man suspected of sympathising with al-Qaeda.NYPD and FBI officials provided few details, calling it part of an ongoing investigation by a joint terrorism task force, but members of US Congress said there was no imminent danger. Authorities launched the raids after a suspect they had under surveillance met with people in Queens, the ethnically diverse borough across the East River from Manhattan. Neighbours at one apartment building, where the home of five Afghan men was searched, described an operation in which heavily armed FBI agents arrived in a phalanx of unmarked vehicles and stormed the building in the early morning hours. "It was scary. I wasn't going to stop the FBI and ask them what was going on," Melissa Khan said. At another building, agents took away four Bosnians - a couple and their two adult children - from an apartment they have shared for three years. At least two of the Bosnians appeared to have returned home by last night. A man who answered the door there refused to speak to reporters. A neighbor who identified herself as Carol Lechner said she believed a son of the couple, a student at Queens College, remained in detention. At the home of the five Afghanis, a man who identified himself as Amanulla Akvari, a 30-year-old taxi driver, said the FBI raided the apartment at 2:30am local time. He was brought in for questioning and released and said he had no idea why his home was targeted, adding that he believed one of his roommates was arrested. "There is very good reason to believe that there is a connection to al-Qaeda or to al-Qaeda supports," Republican congressman Peter King said. "(They) would not have moved as quickly as they did if they did not believe there was real potential." The New York Times, citing an unnamed senior law enforcement official, said authorities had uncovered a small group who espoused a militant ideology aligned with al Qaeda. Neither a specific plot nor a target of any planned attack had been detected, but their activities had aroused enough suspicion to obtain search warrants, the Times said. Posted by: tipper 2009-09-15 |
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