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World Jewish News
Four U.S. Muslims arrested in plot to bomb New York synagogue
21.05.2009
The FBI arrested four men on Wednesday in what authorities called a plot to detonate a bomb outside a synagogue and to shoot military planes with guided missiles.
Officials told The Associated Press the arrests came after a long-running undercover operation that began in Newburgh, New York, about 110 kilometers north of New York City.
James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, the U.S. attorney's office said.
The men had planned to detonate a car with plastic explosives outside a synagogue in the Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale and to shoot military planes at the New York Air National Guard base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh with Stinger surface-to-air guided missiles, authorities said.
The investigation had been under way for about a year.
The four men were arrested after buying an inactive missile and inert explosives in a sting operation run by the FBI and other agencies, the complaint said.
"While the bombs these terrorists attempted to plant tonight were - unbeknownst to them - fake, this latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a separate statement.
Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, said the suspects planned to undertake their attack on Wednesday using a car bomb outside the synagogue.
"Tonight was the night the attacks were being carried out," King told CNN. He said the four men were all Muslim, one born Muslim of Afghan descent and three who converted in prison.
New York has remained on high alert for another attack since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and killed almost 3,000 people.
New York Gov. David Paterson said three of the men are U.S. citizens and one of Haitian descent. "This case clearly illustrates that the threat of terrorism in New York is persistent ... (and) affects all of our communities, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity," Paterson said.
Last June, Cromitie told an FBI informant in Newburgh that his parents had lived in Afghanistan and that he was upset about the number of Muslims being killed in the war there and in Pakistan by American forces, the complaint said.
Cromitie said if he died a martyr, he would go to "paradise" and that he was interested in doing "something to America," the complaint said. Last July, he told the informant he wanted to join Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based group Washington designates as a terrorist organization, to "do jihad," according to the complaint.
During one trip in November to Philadelphia to attend a Muslim Alliance of North America meeting, the complaint says Cromitie said, "The best target (the World Trade Center) was hit already" and "I would like to get (destroy) a synagogue."
On April 28, Onta Williams told the informant the U.S. military "are killing Muslim brothers and sisters in Muslim countries so, if we kill them here ... it is equal." And David Williams said if Jewish people were killed in the attack, "it does not matter," the complaint said.
The defendants are expected to appear in White Plains, New York, federal court on Thursday.
Each man is charged with one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, and one count of conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, which also carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
All the men live in Newburgh, authorities said.
King, the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, was briefed on the case following the arrests.
"This was a long, well-planned investigation, and it shows how real the threat is from homegrown terrorists," said King, of New York.
The four arrested men were jailed Wednesday night and couldn't be contacted for comment. The FBI didn't immediately return a telephone message Wednesday night seeking information on whether the men had lawyers.
Источник: Haaretz
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