Breaking News - Terrorist plot in the US

[Pete]

Breaking News

Was just on the radio about a terrorist plot arrest. Not much info but it said the threat was serious enough that congress was to be briefed.

Said it was an individual from the Middle East.

Nothing showing yet on Drudge.

Small note at SeeBS

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/...html?tag=stack

[Richard]

From Reuters:

New York City police are conducting an investigation into suspected terrorism in the borough of Queens, a spokesman said on Monday.

"There was activity in Queens last night by the NYPD and the FBI that was part of an ongoing joint terrorism taskforce investigation," Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said.

The FBI conducted searches early on Monday morning but would not say it they were terrorism related, NY1 television reported, citing the FBI.

There have been no arrests, NY1 said.

In Washington, a federal law enforcement official said searches had taken place but could not provide any details.

And Pravda on the Hudson:

Law enforcement agents raided residences in New York City on Monday as part of a terrorism investigation, and prepared to brief 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 planned to brief senior lawmakers in Congress on the case later Monday.

A person briefed on the matter, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, said the raids were the result of previous law enforcement surveillance of individuals.

[Richard]

Update.

Richard

Terrorism Task Force Raids Queens Apartments
Raymond Hernandez and Karen Zraick, NYT, 14 Sep 2009

At least two apartments in Queens were raided on Monday after they had been visited in the last week by a suspected associate of Al Qaeda, according to officials.

No arrests were made and no explosives or other weapons were found in the raids, which were conducted by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, the officials said. Law enforcement officials also did not identify any specific terror plot or any target of a planned attack.

“I would characterize the raids as preventative,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, who was briefed Monday afternoon by Robert S. Mueller, the F.B.I. director, and other law enforcement officials.

Mr. Schumer said there was no truth to rumors that the raids were spurred by an imminent terrorist attack or out of concern about President Obama’s safety during his visit to New York on Monday.

An official who was briefed on the investigation but said he was not authorized to speak on the investigation said the raids occurred after a man of Afghan descent under surveillance because of suspected Al Qaeda ties visited New York City over the weekend and then left.

One raid was conducted at a seven-story building at 144-67 41st Avenue in Flushing. Naiz Khan, one of the men who was questioned at the building, said the agents were most interested in an acquaintance who had stayed at the apartment on Thursday but was not there when the raids occurred.

Mr. Khan said the acquaintance lived in Flushing at one time, attending the same Afghan mosque in Queens, Masjid Hazrat Abubakr, as the five men who live in the apartment that was raided. The man moved to Colorado about eight months ago, but had returned to New York to resolve a problem with a permit that he had for a coffee cart he had operated in Lower Manhattan.

“I couldn’t imagine some of the kinds of questions they asked,” Mr. Khan said. “Too many questions about” his friend from Colorado, although he noted that the agents never explained their interest.

“I told them everything I know,” Mr. Khan said, adding that because he works six days a week, he has “no time for politics.”

“This is our country,” he said. “We’re going to be citizens soon. We work here, we live here, we love this country as much as you.”

Agents arrived at the building on 41st Avenue at about 2:30 a.m. on Monday, according to Mr. Khan and Amanullah Akbari, 30, who lives in the fifth-floor apartment that was raided.

Mr. Akbari said he was sleeping when about 10 to 15 people, who he believed to be federal agents, knocked down the door.

Four of the five residents of the two-bedroom apartment were home at the time, he said. They were told to face the wall, and were handcuffed, while the agents searched the apartment. The agents removed a computer and several cellphones.

He said the agents were respectful, and stayed for about four hours. They asked where the residents were from and what they did for a living, Mr. Akbari said. “Believe me, I didn’t know why they came here,” he said. “I am scared.”

He denied anyone in the apartment had anything to do with terrorism: “No way. Everybody is working hard. I work seven days a week.”

He said he came to this country 10 years ago and supports a wife and five children in Afghanistan.

All of the tenants are of Afghan descent, and are from the same area of Afghanistan; Mr. Akbari said he has a green card and drives a taxi. Two roommates operate pushcarts, he said.

The F.B.I. also raided an apartment on 146th Street in Flushing, according to a man who lives there and said he was Mr. Khan’s father. He said that some of the authorities told his wife that people had reported smelling a gas leak, and then conducted a thorough search of the apartment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/ny...ml?_r=1&ref=us

[TOMAHAWK9521]

According to news reports on the radio today the FBI is focusing on a terrorist cell out here in Denver which the plot in NY was traced back to.

[incarcerated]

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...58E7RV20090915

U.S. police alerted about bomb makers after NY raids

Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:50pm EDT
By Edith Honan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal anti-terrorism officials alerted local police departments around the United States about how to track evidence of bomb-making after authorities raided New York homes on Monday in an apparent search for homemade explosives.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security advised the police to look for burn marks typically found on suspects of a particular kind of bomb-making. The note was issued following searches of at least three apartments where a man suspected of sympathizing with al Qaeda had visited.
A U.S. Justice Department spokesman said on Tuesday the advisory was a direct result of Monday's raids, carried out by a joint anti-terrorism task force that included New York police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Authorities declined to say whether anyone was arrested….
"We believe it is prudent to share information with our state and local partners about the variety of domestically available materials that could be used to create homemade explosives," the federal agencies said in a statement.
New York police and the FBI have provided few details about the raids. Witnesses described an operation in which dozens of heavily armed FBI agents arrived in a phalanx of unmarked vehicles and stormed the building in the early morning….

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http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/15/terror.raid/

Afghans were targets of New York terror raid, source says

updated 2 hours, 40 minutes ago
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The targets of a federal anti-terror raid were Afghan nationals who all attended or circulated at a New York-area mosque, a source with direct knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force raided several locations Monday, searching for explosive devices or components intended to be used on targets in the New York area, the source said.
None were found, according to the source. Publicity and the searches themselves may have "spooked" the people in the alleged cell or those connected to it, the source said.
It's the first time anyone can recall that Afghan nationals were suspected of involvement in a plot to attack the United States, the source said....

[Pete]

FBI unit set for more anti-terror raids in Queens; Fears of Madrid-style subway bombings - sources...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_c...dstyle_su.html

"...Fearful of a Madrid-style subway train bombing, authorities are poised to make more raids to seize bomb-making materials at locations in Queens, sources said Wednesday.

The FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Squad arrived in New York in anticipation of the offensive to thwart a Denver-based terror cell with ties to Al Qaeda, police sources told the Daily News................"

[Utah Bob]

FBI Raid in Colorado

[TrapLine]

So much for Zazi being "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,551893,00.html

Maybe his lawyer will come up with a new story.

[Utah Bob]

His mouthpiece is still denying everything.

[frostfire]

Najibullah Zazi, the Aurora, Colorado man.

goodness gracious ...anywhere but Colorado, especially that close.
A dearest somebody needs to get CCW and develop the "mindset."

peroxide-based explosives

Too many loopholes that are almost impossible to close allow synthesis of such material. OTOH, large quantities are no-go as they're very hard to stabilize, and very friction-and-shock sensitive esp. when they cavitate.

[incarcerated]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/su...ory?id=8618732

Suspect's Computer Said to Show Sports Stadiums, Fashion Sites

By RICHARD ESPOSITO, BRIAN ROSS and CLAYTON SANDELL
Sept. 19, 2009
A computer belonging to alleged al Qaeda suspect Najibullah Zazi showed he had researched baseball and football stadiums and sites used in the recent Fashion Week event in New York City, law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com....

....The officials said text messages sent by Zazi suggest the plot was nearing the attack phase. One message said the "wedding cake is ready," which authorities say may have been code to indicate the attack was ready. Al Qaeda operatives have frequently used references to weddings to disguise planned terror attacks....

....Authorities who have been briefed on elements of the alleged plot said it was a "varsity level" plan similar in scope to the 2005 attacks on London's subways and busses.

A recipe for homemade explosives found on Zazi's computer would have produced a bomb of the same size and type used in London, authorities said.

The suicide bombers in London used backpacks and plastic containers to carry the explosive mixtures.

....The New York Daily News reported Saturday that seven New York men with ties to Zazi had unsuccessfully attempted to rent a large rental truck on Sept. 10, the day before Zazi arrived from Denver.

[BigJimCalhoun]

Some of the locals are investigating too...

http://www.9news.com/news/article.as...3554&catid=339

FBI stop men with guns at terror suspect's apartment complex

ARAPAHOE COUNTY - Three man clad in camouflage pants were stopped by federal agents overnight after they were found walking around the apartment complex where a terror suspect lives. Two of the men were carrying loaded firearms.


Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation stopped the men as they walked through the parking lot of the Vistas at Saddle Rock Apartments, located at 22959 East Smoky Hill Road. The FBI was at the complex because they've been investigating terror suspect Najibullah Zazi, who lives there.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department says one of the men, 37-year-old Brian Laro, was armed with a loaded AR-15 rifle slung over his shoulder and another man, 24-year-old Timothy Guinn, had a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol tucked into his waistband. The third suspect was unarmed.

The men told agents they had been at Laro's apartment "having a few beers" when they heard what they thought was a gunshot, then they went to investigate.

Authorities say Laro had a blood alcohol level of .123, while Guinn's registered at .020.

Laro was arrested and taken to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office Detention's Facility where he was held on a $750 bond on charges of prohibited use of a weapon and disorderly conduct.
Guinn was released at the scene and his deputies say his concealed weapons permit was confiscated pending a review of the incident.

Deputies say the firearms were placed into evidence

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by incarcerated

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/su...ory?id=8618732

Suspect's Computer Said to Show Sports Stadiums, Fashion Sites

By RICHARD ESPOSITO, BRIAN ROSS and CLAYTON SANDELL
Sept. 19, 2009
A computer belonging to alleged al Qaeda suspect Najibullah Zazi showed he had researched baseball and football stadiums and sites used in the recent Fashion Week event in New York City, law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com....

....The officials said text messages sent by Zazi suggest the plot was nearing the attack phase. One message said the "wedding cake is ready," which authorities say may have been code to indicate the attack was ready. Al Qaeda operatives have frequently used references to weddings to disguise planned terror attacks....

....Authorities who have been briefed on elements of the alleged plot said it was a "varsity level" plan similar in scope to the 2005 attacks on London's subways and busses.

A recipe for homemade explosives found on Zazi's computer would have produced a bomb of the same size and type used in London, authorities said.

The suicide bombers in London used backpacks and plastic containers to carry the explosive mixtures.

....The New York Daily News reported Saturday that seven New York men with ties to Zazi had unsuccessfully attempted to rent a large rental truck on Sept. 10, the day before Zazi arrived from Denver.

It has taken them longer than I thought to realize that you don't terrorize America by hitting symbolic and political targets. You do it by hitting everyday targets like markets, stadiums, etc. A bad sign that they are beginning to think this way.

[incarcerated]

Mr. Zazi is now in custody:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...28807320090920

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UPDATE:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...07XuwD9AQSPGO0

3 arrested for false statements in terror probe

By STEVEN K. PAULSON (AP) – 1 hour ago
DENVER — A 24-year-old Colorado airport shuttle driver and his father were arrested on formal charges of making false statements to federal agents in an ongoing terror investigation, and the Justice Department says a third man was arrested in New York City on the same charges.

Najibullah Zazi, 24, and his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, were arrested by federal agents late Saturday at their suburban Denver homes. Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, of Flushing, N.Y., also was arrested, the Justice Department said.

Each was charged with knowingly and willfully making false statements to the FBI "in a matter involving international and domestic terrorism," the department said in a statement.

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UPDATE:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/men-ar...ory?id=8618732

....In New York, the FBI arrested the leader of a Queens mosque, Ahmad Afzali, who authorities allege had been a New York police department informant but "went bad" and tipped off Zazi, his father and others to the investigation.

Afzali's alleged double cross compromised the case and led the FBI to move in on the suspects much earlier than they had wanted and led to extreme tensions between the Denver office of the FBI and the NYPD. One law enforcement official said the NYPD had been specifically asked not to reveal the investigation to its informants, but went ahead anyway.

In affidavits filed in connection with the arrests, agents say they discovered nine pages of handwritten notes in Zazi's computer with details on how to make a homemade bomb.

According to the affidavit, Zazi initially denied knowing anything about the notes when he was shown them by the FBI during a three day interrogation.
Later, Zazi admitted the notes were his and that he attended an al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan and received instructions on weapons and explosives.

Law enforcement and intelligence officials say the case began in 2008 when the CIA twice picked up on Zazi's presence in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, a place often used by al Qaeda to arrange meetings with foreigners.

Zazi maintained publicly that he had no ties to al Qaeda and had gone to Peshawar only to visit his wife.

According to the FBI affidavits, Zazi went to Peshawar in Aug. 2008 and again in Jan. 2009....

[st1650]

Originally Posted by frostfire

Too many loopholes that are almost impossible to close allow synthesis of such material. OTOH, large quantities are no-go as they're very hard to stabilize, and very friction-and-shock sensitive esp. when they cavitate.

Yes but they're perfect as primary explosives/detonators. In small quantities they're dirt cheap, easy to make, reliable and can be made safe for storage and transport simply by being wet. There also have other interesting characteristics which I won't share on a public forum.