Update Sept 15th , its getting scary.
Via HA:
Hundreds of FBI agents are on the ground in Colorado, conducting round-the-clock surveillance on five suspects - including a man who recently visited Queens, sources told The News…
“The FBI is seriously spooked about these guys planning another 9/11,” a former senior counterterrorism official told the News. “This is not some … FBI informant-driven case. This is the real thing.”…
The 24-7 counterterror operation included Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants used to intercept calls and e-mails, as well as overseas-linked wiretaps to eavesdrop on Arabic and Pashto-speaking targets.
Sources said the investigation’s targets are Afghans - an unusual development. Al Qaeda prefers Arabs and Pakistanis as there [sic] overseas operatives.
The Post IDs the Colorado suspect as an Afghan known as “Najibullah” and claims that he trained with Al Qaeda. Could be that AQ wants to put an Afghan stamp on the next attack to frame it as some sort of reprisal for the U.S. occupation, but that’s just me guessing. As for how he got away, it seems we jumped too soon:
It looks like Jihadists :
Updated, 4:45 p.m. | A senior law enforcement official said authorities had not detected a specific plot or target of any planned attack, but had uncovered a small group of people who espoused a militant ideology aligned with Al Qaeda and whose activities had aroused enough suspicion to obtain warrants for the searches and arrests, which began late Sunday night.
The official said authorities had only a hazy view of the group, its operations and goals, but decided to act fearing that undercover surveillance had failed to detect plans that might be developing.
WASHINGTON – Law enforcement agents raided residences in New York City on Monday as part of a terrorism investigation, and began briefing Congress about the probe.
New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne confirmed that searches were conducted in the borough of Queens by agents of a joint terrorism task force. He would not discuss the matter further.
Separately, federal authorities started briefing a series of senior lawmakers in Congress about the caseTwo U.S. intelligence officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly, said the target of any purported attack — or who would carry it out — remained unclear.
Authorities have not found any weapons ready for use — such as a bomb — that would indicate an attack was imminent, they said. Nevertheless, one of the officials called the threat very real and emphasized the urgency of the threat.
This isn't the first time queens has been in the spotlight, a couple of years there was a plan to blow parts of the JFK fuel terminal, not that queens may have been the target of whoever was arrested.
More from the local affiliate:
New York CBS- Residents in Queens were witness to an FBI raid Monday morning, as agents flooded the area looking for explosives. Neighbors stood by as a large group of FBI agents and NYPD detectives converged on an apartment building as point of a joint terrorist task force.
"It's very rare that you see them around here," neighbor Ron Bonett said.
Those who were there say it was a blitzkrieg at about 2 a.m. at an address on 41st Avenue near 144th Street.The door to apartment 530 cannot be closed because agents had to ram it open.One of the men who lives in the apartment, who says he was not a target of the search, says he's a self-employed antique dealer.
"They looking for some powder, some different things for making bombs and different things," resident Assad Niazi said. In fact, the federal search warrant spelled out all manner of possible bomb-making components, including powders, gels, TNT, and fuses.
"I don't know [the other residents]," Niazi said. "They are roommates - they go to work in the morning, and at night they come back." He says the place was thoroughly searched, and a kitchen radiator was even dismantled. The resident says papers were removed from the apartment, but he says the other residents were questioned and released.
The building's superintendent, Ramiz Berisha, says those who were questioned are Pakistani.
More developing.
0 comments:
Post a Comment