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| FBI, NYPD Arrest 4 in Alleged Plot to Bomb NY Synagogues | |
| 2009-05-21 | |
| Four New York City men were arrested Wednesday in connection with an alleged plot to blow up New York City synagogues and other city locations, WNBC's Jonathan Dienst was first to learn. Raids by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force in the Bronx captured the suspected ringleader and three followers in what law enforcement sources are calling a homegrown terrorist plot. Investigators stress the suspects' meetings had been infiltrated early on and there was "no chance" the alleged plot could succeed. Some officials have called them an "unsophisticated" group.
The men ordered and accepted delivery of materials they believed were bomb-making ingredients, authorities said. But investigators said they made sure the materials the suspects received were inert. Officials tell WNBC they moved in now so the alleged plot could not progress any further. The four suspects were identified as James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen. The four men are in custody and are expected to be arraigned Thursday in White Plains federal court on terrorism-related counts. Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered his thanks to the NYPD and FBI. "This latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism," Bloomberg said. The motives behind the alleged plot are not yet known, but authorities said that Cromitie said his parents live in Afghanistan and he was apparently upset over the U.S. military presence there and in Pakistan. Since the 9/11 attacks, authorities have arrested suspects in a number of alleged plots against area targets including the Fort Dix New Jersey military base, John F. Kennedy Airport, the Herald Square subway station in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. Last December, a New Jersey jury convicted five foreign-born men, living and working in the area for years, of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers at Ft. Dix. Three were brothers from Yugoslavia; the others were born in Jordan and Turkey. The FBI arrested them after 15 months of surveillance after they tried to buy AK-47s and M-16s. The men had claimed they were set up by an unscrupulous informant. In June 2007, four alleged Muslim extremists -- a 63-year-old former JFK airport cargo employee living in Brooklyn and three others from Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago -- were charged with plotting to blow up fuel lines and gas tanks at the busy Queens airport. All four have pleaded not guilty. Two men were convicted of plotting to bomb the Herald Square station including a Pakistani immigrant Shahawar Matin Siraj. He is serving 30 years in federal prison for conspiring to blow up the subway station on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention in nearby Madison Square Garden. Al Qaeda operative Iman Faris of Columbus, Ohio, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Kashmir, is serving 20 years in federal prison for planning to destroy American targets including the Brooklyn Bridge, which he cased in 2002 and 2003. Others have been charged with material support for terrorism. Two American born Muslim converts, Bronx jazz musician and martial arts expert Tarik Shah and emergency room doctor Rafiq Sabir, who had worked in New York and Florida, were convicted in 2007 of conspiring to provide material support to Al Qaeda. Queens resident Mohammed Junaid Babar, who immigrated to the U.S., pleaded guilty in 2004 to supporting Al Qaeda and has since testified against terror suspects who plotted attacks in London. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 I thought everything would be euphoric again in the new Obama kingdom! Wait. Now I understand. When he replaces the intelligence community with Clintonites, THEN all will be September 10, 2001 again. At least for a day or two... |
| Posted by: Pliny Sninelet4308 2009-05-21 16:45 |
| #11 I thought surely these guys would have been Mormon or Quaker or Amish. What a shock to find they were muslims. Jihad is part of their religion. I guess they were just doing their religious thing. They certainly don't fit any of the profiled groups in the Homeland Security Report that came out a couple of weeks ago. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-05-21 14:41 |
| #10 I am surprised we caught them they do not look like ex-military, right-wing extremists that Obama seems to be worried about. This investigation must of started prior to these 4 guys voting for Obama. |
| Posted by: airandee 2009-05-21 13:32 |
| #9 Where the hell is religious freedom in America. Muslims must practice jihad just like Catholics receive the eucharist and Methodist sing hymns. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-05-21 10:39 |
| #8 According to the AP article I read, the FBI has been onto these (Just in case anyone is thinking of sending Oblahblah a thank-you note for keeping them safe). |
| Posted by: Zorba 2009-05-21 09:59 |
| #7 The FBI said the Muslim suspects were angry and full of hate for America. "Hatred of the West. The leader of the group, James Cromitie was concerned about deaths at the hands of the U.S. military in Afghanistan," and also expressed anti-Jewish sentiment, Joseph Demarest the head of the New York FBI said. According to the criminal complaint, Cromitie said "I hate those f-ing Jewish bastards." He bragged that it would be a "piece of cake" to bomb a Jewish Center in Riverdale, according to the complaint. He said his father lives in Afghanistan and he was upset about U.S. military presence there. The fact that this type of hatred exists means that we all have to be vigilant all of the time," city councilman Jeffrey Dinowitz said Thursday. Cromitie was the first to approach the informant, authorities said. He told the informant he has ties to the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad. Authorities said Cromitie had 27 past arrests and had recently been working at a nation-wide discount retailer, authorities said. NBC The Brigadier General of the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations ("AFOSI"), announced the arrests tonight of JAMES CROMITIE, a/k/a "Abdul Rahman," a/k/a "Abdul Rehman," DAVID WILLIAMS, a/k/a "Daoud," a/k/a "DL," ONTA WILLIAMS, a/k/a "Hamza," and LAGUERRE PAYEN, a/k/a "Amin," a/k/a "Almondo," on charges arising from a plot to detonate explosives near a synagogue in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York, and to shoot military planes located at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York. ... In June 2008, an informant working with the FBI met CROMITIE in Newburgh, New York. CROMITIE explained to the informant that his parents had lived in Afghanistan and that he was upset about the war there and that many Muslim people were being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan by the United States Military forces. CROMITIE expressed interest in returning to Afghanistan and spoke to the CW about how if he, CROMITIE, were to die a martyr, he would go to "paradise." CROMITIE also expressed an interest in doing "something to America." The following month, CROMITIE and the informant discussed the organization Jaish-e-Mohammed, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization based in Pakistan, with which the informant claimed to be involved. CROMITIE stated to the informant that he, CROMITIE, would be interested in joining Jaish-e-Mohammed to "do jihad." Complaint Strange. Cromitie is black, yet he says his parents lived in Afghanistan. How many blacks are in Afghanistan? |
| Posted by: KBK 2009-05-21 09:55 |
| #6 If not, it appears at least one has strong sympathies that way. The plot against synagogues was not an anti-Juice thing, but a pro-Muslim/anti-US thing. I don't know how large a difference that is these days. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-05-21 09:44 |
| #5 "no chance" the alleged plot could succeed. Some officials have called them an "unsophisticated" group. I'd say most Pakistanis, Afghans, and other jihadis are unsophisticated but dangerous nontheless. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2009-05-21 09:33 |
| #4 "...posing as Pakistani militants linked to Al Qaeda". Just walk up to someone in the mosque and say, "I'm from Pakistan", then terrorist aspirants seem to come right out of the woodwork. |
| Posted by: Jack Salami 2009-05-21 08:26 |
| #3 Grom, You imply they're not Muslim, but: Cromitie said his parents live in Afghanistan If not, it appears at least one has strong sympathies that way. The plot against synagogues was not an anti-Juice thing, but a pro-Muslim/anti-US thing. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-05-21 08:06 |
| #2 VARIOUS NETTERS > believe the USA = Amerika is or will be TOO ECON OR $$$ BROKE TO EFFECTIVELY STOP IRAN OR RADICAL ISLAM FROM GOING NUKULAAR, and beyond??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-05-21 03:16 |
| #1 How dare the government intrude in the affairs of - oh, they're not Muslim? Guilty as hell, send them away! |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-05-21 01:50 |