Ally_Kat
08-30-2004, 02:19 AM
2 Arrested in Alleged NYC Subway Bomb Plot
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - A U.S. citizen and a Pakistani national were arrested in an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan and possibly other locations around the city, police said Saturday.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the men were not thought to be connected to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist organization, although he said they expressed hatred for America.
The arrests came two days before the start of the Republican National Convention, which is drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the city.
Though there was no clear tie to the convention, authorities moved to arrest the two men before it began.
The men had been under police surveillance and had discussed placing explosives at the Herald Square subway station and stations at 42nd and 59th streets, Kelly said. The men never obtained explosives, he said.
"It was clear that they had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," Kelly said. "They did not immediately have the means to do it."
He identified the men as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a Pakistani living in Queens, and James Elshafay, 19, a U.S. citizen living on Staten Island.
Kelly said the men visited the Herald Square 34th Street station — one block from Madison Square Garden, the site of the convention — on Aug. 21.
After walking through the station, the pair drew diagrams of the station "in order to facilitate the later planting of the explosive devices," then gave the drawings to a paid police informant, according to the complaint.
In secretly recorded conversations with the informant, Siraj said he was "ready for jihad" and Elshafay "discussed his hatred for the 'Zionists' and expressed ... his solidarity with the Palestinian people," according to the complaint.
The men were being charged with conspiracy to blow up the station, which is central to a large commercial district, including Macy's flagship department store.
They appeared before a federal judge in Brooklyn and were ordered held until a later hearing. Attorney Tom Dunn, who represents Elshafay, said his client would plead not guilty. Siraj's attorney, Heidi Cesare, had no comment.
Elshafay's mother left the courtroom weeping. "We're proud to be Americans," said the woman, who did not give her name.
The men also scouted three police stations on Staten Island and a jail there. They drew maps of those sites and a map of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island, Kelly said.
"Their motive was generally hatred for America," he said. He said one of the men had also made anti-Semitic statements.
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - A U.S. citizen and a Pakistani national were arrested in an alleged plot to bomb a subway station in midtown Manhattan and possibly other locations around the city, police said Saturday.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the men were not thought to be connected to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist organization, although he said they expressed hatred for America.
The arrests came two days before the start of the Republican National Convention, which is drawing tens of thousands of visitors to the city.
Though there was no clear tie to the convention, authorities moved to arrest the two men before it began.
The men had been under police surveillance and had discussed placing explosives at the Herald Square subway station and stations at 42nd and 59th streets, Kelly said. The men never obtained explosives, he said.
"It was clear that they had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," Kelly said. "They did not immediately have the means to do it."
He identified the men as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a Pakistani living in Queens, and James Elshafay, 19, a U.S. citizen living on Staten Island.
Kelly said the men visited the Herald Square 34th Street station — one block from Madison Square Garden, the site of the convention — on Aug. 21.
After walking through the station, the pair drew diagrams of the station "in order to facilitate the later planting of the explosive devices," then gave the drawings to a paid police informant, according to the complaint.
In secretly recorded conversations with the informant, Siraj said he was "ready for jihad" and Elshafay "discussed his hatred for the 'Zionists' and expressed ... his solidarity with the Palestinian people," according to the complaint.
The men were being charged with conspiracy to blow up the station, which is central to a large commercial district, including Macy's flagship department store.
They appeared before a federal judge in Brooklyn and were ordered held until a later hearing. Attorney Tom Dunn, who represents Elshafay, said his client would plead not guilty. Siraj's attorney, Heidi Cesare, had no comment.
Elshafay's mother left the courtroom weeping. "We're proud to be Americans," said the woman, who did not give her name.
The men also scouted three police stations on Staten Island and a jail there. They drew maps of those sites and a map of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island, Kelly said.
"Their motive was generally hatred for America," he said. He said one of the men had also made anti-Semitic statements.