Investigators Foil Dramatic Plan for ‘Next 9/11’
In a dramatic announcement on Friday, police named three men who were allegedly plotting attacks in New York that would be “the next 9/11.”
One of the men confessed and has been in custody in the U.S. since May 21, 2016. Another suspect was arrested in Pakistan while the third was arrested in the Philippines.
All three men were charged with seven terrorism-related counts and face life in prison.
Although the plot was known to investigators months ago, it was only revealed to the public now due to an ongoing investigation into the suspects’ other terror connections.
“The most challenging and difficult decisions that are made in these investigations is finding where the balance is –- between protecting the integrity of the investigation and letting the public know the vital information they need to determine whether or not they feel safe going to a particular venue,” said former FBI Supervisor JJ Klaver.
The men were named as Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, a 19-year-old Canadian citizen; Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen based in Pakistan and Russell Salic, a 37-year-old orthopedic surgeon in the Philippines.
The plans included a massive attack on Times Square, where the men had planned to trap people inside the area called the Crossroads of the World “and kill as many people as possible.” A shooting attack was also planned for New York’s crowded subway lines. The attackers had planned to wear suicide vests and blow themselves up before being apprehended or killed. They also researched the upcoming concerts in the city and talked about choosing “a concert hall that far away from cops.” Another plan was to attack a Jewish neighborhood.
Dates mentioned for the attacks were during the month of Ramadan or on Memorial Day.
The men spoke with each other through chat apps. El Bahnasawy ended up communicating with an undercover agent posing as an ISIS sympathizer. Haroon allegedly texted the same agent, “NY Needs to fall. This is a must.” He also said he wanted to “cause great destruction to the filthy (disbelievers) by our hands.”
According to those familiar with the case, the arrests were not due to a sting operation; rather, FBI and NYPD investigators were onto El Bahnasawy early in the planning stages. Alert security forces have foiled a number of plots planned for the New York area in recent years.
El Bahnasawy allegedly purchased bomb-making materials and helped rent a cabin he intended to use to build explosive devices. Haroon, after meeting bomb experts in Pakistan, allegedly planned to travel to New York to help. Salic was charged with funding the operation by wiring money from the Philippines.
In one message, El Bahnasawy wrote, “(W)e seriously need a car bomb at Times Square. … Look at these crowds of people!” In another communications, he said he wanted to “shoot up concerts cuz they kill a lot of people. … (W)e just walk in with guns in our hands. … That’s how the Paris guys did it.”
Haroon called the subway a “perfect” target and spoke of killing as many people as possible on a “very busy day,” not stopping even if there were “women or kids.” After shooting as many people as possible on the subway, Haroon added that if they “get trapped” or “when we run out of bullets we let the vests go off.”
“No mercy is rule one,” Haroon wrote. “I wanna kill . . . them in thousands. (W)e have to make a ocean out of their blood(.) Leave no one standing.”
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