Posted on 10/07/2017 7:39:03 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Another 9/11, another Brussels, another Paris? According to indictments unsealed yesterday by the Department of Justice, a three-man Islamist terror cell plotted versions of all the above for another attack on New York City. Before they could carry it out, an FBI undercover agent discovered the plot in 2016, then coordinated an international manhunt to capture all three erstwhile terrorists:
The alleged scheme was more nefarious than many: The group, which wanted to attack Times Square and the New York City subway system, claimed to have been in touch with an Islamic State affiliate to obtain the official sanction of the terrorist group, prosecutors said.
One of them, a U.S. citizen living in Pakistan, traveled in that country to meet with explosives experts and another purchased bombmaking materials and secured a cabin within driving distance of New York City, the prosecutors said. …
Prosecutors alleged the men in New York plotted similar mass destruction during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The men wanted to carry out bombings and shootings in Times Square and the New York City subway system and shoot people at concert venues, and they referenced similar attacks in Brussels and Paris, authorities said.
Bahnasawy told the undercover FBI agent he wanted to “create the next 9/11” and in May 2016 sent maps of the New York City subway system with plans for where explosives could be detonated, prosecutors alleged. He also asserted the group should put a car bomb in Times Square, prosecutors alleged.
The DoJ rounded up the suspects beginning in May 2016 in the US, followed by an arrest in Pakistan in late 2016 and in the Philippines in April of this year. The man arrested in the US, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, has already pled guilty to terrorism offenses, and the US is working on the extradition of the other two men, 19-year-old Talha Haroon and 37-year-old Russell Salic.
Bahnasawy and Haroon made their declaration of loyalty to ISIS through a man they thought represented the terrorist cult. Unfortunately for them — and fortunately for the Big Apple — the man was an undercover FBI agent. Salic pledged to raise money for the operation, and later sent the same agent $423 in funding. (Times must be tight for ISIS.)
CBS provides a little more detail on the terrorists’ spitballing on tactics, showing that they had paid attention to earlier Islamist attacks in Europe:
Federal prosecutors say they've thwarted an ISIS terror plot that targeted New York City: https://t.co/8lnAQ89rdw pic.twitter.com/3Q6wRwihuW
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 7, 2017
One of the men, Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, bought bomb-making materials but was arrested after traveling from Canada to New Jersey in May 2016 to stage the attacks, authorities said. His arrest came after an investigation using an undercover FBI agent posing as an Islamic extremist.
According to criminal complaints, El Bahnasawy sent the undercover an image of Times Square with a smartphone message saying, “We seriously need to car bomb times square. Look at these crowds of people!”
In another, El Bahnasawy expressed a desire to “shoot up concerts cuz they kill a lot people. … We just walk in with guns in our hands. That’s how Paris guys did it,” the papers said.
According to The Guardian, Haroon wanted to conduct a subway attack with firearms and suicide vests. After shooting people until their bullets ran out, Haroon suggested, “we let the vests go off.” That parallels the Paris attacks, but also Brussels and Mumbai. Those continue to serve as models for terrorists, but hopefully the FBI’s success in stopping these will eventually discourage it.
Neither Haroon nor Salic have been approved yet for extradition. The US might have to wait on Salic, who faces terror charges at home related to pro-ISIS activity:
Salic, who is a doctor and is accused of sending money to help fund the planned attacks, was also arrested in the Philippines for his alleged involvement in kidnappings and beheadings blamed on pro-Isis militants, a Philippine official said.
The chief state counsel, Ricardo Paras, told the Associated Press that a Manila court was considering an extradition request from the US government. Even if the court approves the request, the Department of Justice in Manila needs to decide whether Salic will face charges in the Philippines first or be allowed to be flown to the US to answer the terrorism financing allegations there, Paras said.
“The US can also request for a temporary surrender of Salic to its custody, but it’s in our options to require him to face criminal complaints here first,” Paras said.
Salic would face a life sentence here. In the Philippines, he might face a tougher penalty, as the legislature has taken steps to restore the death penalty. Perhaps Salic won’t fight extradition too hard after all.
Phillipines? Related to LV by any chance?
Ping
I suspect that the FBI leadership is MUCH MORE AGGRESSIVE when a terror attack would help Republicans (like Trump), which is why that stopped that attack, but not Las Vegas.
Interesting how all these “foiled terrorist attempts” come to light in the week after a successful one.
Oh, that’s right...no terrorist link in LVNV.
What did they learn in Vegas?????
As the FBI has been at the forefront of criminalizing opposition to Democrats, I find it hard to take the FBI seriously.
Given their willingness to ignore the law when it comes to egregious violations on the part of Democrats, I think that if it were politically expedient for the FBI to let thousands of Americans die in a terrorist incident that they would do so.
They have to make a show of pretending to enforce the law, that’s all this is.
Of course there is truth to what you’re saying but let’s not use the FBI as a general term for so many men who do a great job. The FBI isn’t one evil guy. It’s a bunch of evil guys LOL. But also a bunch of good guys.
The “good guys” at the FBI are like “good muslims”.
They see what is going on but refuse to stop it, passively looking the other way so they can retire and collect their pension.
The “good guys” already quit and moved on, refusing to put up with the corruption.
No, I suspect that most government law enforcement uses the same calculus: Keep quiet, prosecute who you’re told, and retire at 55.
I suspect that in the end there is little federal law-enforcement will not do to citizens if they are ordered to, if it means keeping their jobs, benefits, pensions.
Look at Charlottesville, Berkeley from this past summer.
“That was my first thought too.”
As I’ve no factual proof or even know any individuals with the FBI, I cannot refute what you say.
It might be a little more demoralization than passive looking the other way for some though.
We talk easy but these guys have the mortgage, the kids, the car payments and everything else we folks have.
It’s hard for me to judge the average G man.
But I could be wrong again. It happens often :)
There people, a little biscuit of protection while the FBI plots sedition against your rights showing pictures of bump stocks while the Vegas shooter was probably using something else.
“We talk easy but these guys have the mortgage, the kids, the car payments and everything else we folks have.”
The difference is that if you are probably a decent person - so chances are, you wouldn’t look the other way if you saw some injustice, or deliberately harm someone through action or inaction.
Yep, they have a mortgage, kids...etc. They will do what they are told, and will not rock the boat.
If that means someone mostly innocent gets thrown in jail, or someone obviously guilty walks free, so be it.
Is this the profile one of the “good guys” you mentioned?
You’ve outlined the problem succinctly.
Guess what?
When the FBI thinks they have found a mid level employee in a corporation that has followed orders to break the law, they have very little concern about that employee’s family obligations.
Did EVERY worker quit when it was found out Goldman was laundering drug money?
Wells Fargo lose all their workers when it was reported MILLIONS of fake accounts were made?
The makers of oxycodone lied about its addictiveness and nobody quit.
I would be a hypocrite to say i would have left one of my investment banks because of their wrongdoings.
That kind of bravey is great in the movies.
In real life, your wife leaves, you get ruined by higher ups, and become an alcoholic :)
Well done!
No women work for the FBI?
You’re a #### :)
there’s always a few on a night
i’m bored but you must be REALLY @####ING bored!!! :)
You’re a #### :)
there’s always a few on a night
i’m bored but you must be REALLY @####ING bored!!! :)
It’s one thing to be an employee of a company where laws were broken and they were caught and people were punished.
It’s another to be in law enforcement and get caught institutionally behaving unethically and even illegally, and nobody gets punished, and the unethical behavior continues - and you keep your job as long as you don’t complain.
I’d never stay at a place like that. You wouldn’t either.
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