FBI: Three held in plot to blow up three NY tunnels

Google Earth is a powerful tool! Afterall they were going into chat rooms to discuss this stuff. They must be technically advanced! [/sarcasm]

 

Well, they're working their way up the food chain from those nitwits in Miami.

 

Suspect in Tunnel Plot Said to Visit U.S.
By PAT MILTON
Associated Press Writer

Lebanese authorities found maps and bombing plans on the personal computer of an al-Qaida loyalist accused of plotting to attack New York train tunnels, and a U.S. official disclosed that he had visited the country at least once.
Acting Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat described the information found on 31-year-old Assem Hammoud's computer as "very important."

"It contained maps and bombing plans that were being prepared," Fatfat said in a local television interview.

In the U.S., a federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said Hammoud had visited the United States at least once - a trip to California six years ago.

The official said Hammoud had a legitimate visa for a brief stay, and was believed to have been visiting either family or friends. The visit occurred long before authorities say the tunnel plot began to unfold.

Authorities are still trying to trace Hammoud's steps during that trip but say they have no record of him going to New York. They have not ruled out the possibility that Hammoud had come to the country using different names.

Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press that they obtained "important information" from Hammoud's computer and CDs seized from his office at the Lebanese International University, where he taught economics.

"This information helped the investigators make Hammoud confess to his role in plotting a terror act in America," one Lebanese official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Hammoud, who has used the alias Amir Andalousli, has been in Lebanese custody since April. Two others also are in custody in the case, which U.S. investigators said was disrupted after coordinated efforts with officials in six other countries. Five suspects are at large.

The FBI said the suspects are alleged to have planned to attack trains under the Hudson River using suicide bombers and backpack bombs. The plan, which authorities said the suspects hoped to carry out in October or November, was to flood lower Manhattan by attacking the tunnels - used by tens of thousands of commuters each day.

But the plot was only in the planning stages, and the suspects had not purchased any explosives or traveled to the U.S. as part of the scheme.

"We received information from the FBI in April about an attempt to plot a terror act in New York City through Internet communications in Lebanon," Fatfat said in the interview Saturday. "Based on this information, security forces acted and arrested Mr. Assem Hammoud."

Officials said Hammoud confessed to the plot, and to swearing allegiance to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported that a Syrian suspect had been lured to Libya and arrested there, along with a third suspect whose nationality was unknown.

Other suspects still at large include a Saudi, a Yemeni, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, and an Iranian Kurd, As-Safir said.

The suspect's family denied that he had any al-Qaida links. His mother, Nabila Qotob, said Hammoud was an outdoorsy person who drank alcohol, had girlfriends and bore none of the hallmarks of an Islamic extremist.

The Canadian Press, citing a source familiar with the case, reported that Hammoud attended Montreal's Concordia University in the mid-1990s.

 

In the U.S., a federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said Hammoud had visited the United States at least once - a trip to California six years ago.


Yup, that trip to California in 2000 sure had a lot to do with plotting to blow-up the NY-NJ PATH tubes in 2006. :

Man, the dishonest administration is going to milk this sucker for all it's worth.

 

Well, the bad guys were monitoring the PATH tunnels from the Middle East... :

 

In the U.S., a federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing
There is your biggest problem right there.
How many investigations get compromised because some yahoo wants to be a hero to the stinkin' Post?

 

Well, in this case he spoke to AP.

But seriously, we went from they've never been in this country (so how could they be starting surveillance on the site?) to one guy was here ... 6 years ago, 3,000+ miles away.
Give it a few more days and they'll have him in an apartment in Jersey City next to the pATH station. :

 

That's my point, Spnited. This investigation is ongoing, they may find out all kinds of details soon, but all that gets compromised because someone feels the need to flap their gums.
And what do they really get out of it by doing so?

 

And my point is, "sources" keep leaking all kinds of info to show how great a job the administraion is doing fighting terrorists, but the White House is compliaining about these leaks becuase it makes another feeble plan being concocted thousands of miles away seem like a real threat.

If any of this is true, and they have had this Lebanese guy in custody since April, why has there been NO increased security in PATH trains or stations...including the reopened World Trade Center PATH/subway station?

 

I do see what you're saying, but why compromise the investiagtion? Who knows how many will get away because of it.

Anyway, how much more increased security can you get? Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

 

I take the NYC subway every day. My home station of the most heavily traffic-ed in New York.

There are no cops monitoring that station. I know every inch of that station like the back of my hand. In short order, here are the people that are at that station on a daily basis: Bodega stand proprietor, NYC subway token clerk, thousands of straphangers, various subway personnel.

Not a subway cop to be found.

 

I swear I'm not asking this to be a smartass, HB, but don't you think there is a video surveillance system in place for you and don't you think there are plainclothes officers there?