Posted on 08/23/2006 12:36:14 PM PDT by presidio9
Cops halted a Manhattan subway and examined passengers carrying bottled water and other drinks yesterday after a concerned tipster reported seeing a bottle of suspicious liquid on the No.6 train, police and witnesses said. The startling spot check was not part of a wider NYPD counterterrorism initiative and had no connection to the thwarted British terror plot to use liquid explosives to blow up passenger jets, authorities said.
It was a routine response to a suspicious package - but several passengers were still alarmed.
"This is a new level of fear, watching for people carrying drinks on the subway," said Wallis Post, 25, of Manhattan, who was on the train searched by cops at the 51st St. station and again at Grand Central Terminal.
Cops halted the subway about 9 a.m. shortly after a tipster reported seeing a suspicious bottle of liquid on the train at 125th St., police said.
"Is anyone carrying a liquid?" a uniformed cop asked after boarding the train with another officer at 51st St., according to Post and another passenger.
Another cop then said into her hand-held radio: "We're looking for the high alert," prompting a few frightened passengers to get off the train, the witnesses said.
As the cops held the train, a woman in a gym outfit held up a Poland Spring water bottle with red juice inside it and told them, "I have this."
The cops asked if the liquid had spilled on anything and then took it, Post said.
After a five-minute delay, the train was allowed to depart the station, but when it rolled into Grand Central another cop got on and asked: "Has anyone seen a liquid?"
Cops again searched the train before deciding there was no threat, Post said.
After British intelligence agents exposed the liquid-bomb terror plot this month, airlines banned nearly all liquids - including shampoo, drinks and suntan lotion - from carry-on bags.
But the city's security level has remained at orange, where it has been since 9/11.
Though the NYPD tweaked some of its counterterrorism safeguards based upon information from Scotland Yard, it has not started searching for suspicious liquids on trains, authorities said.
In other news, be on the lookout for dangerously cold Slurpees, last seen at the local 7-11. All cases of Brain Freeze should be reported immediately.
An N.Y. idiot transfers a dyed liquid into a Polar Springs bottle and takes it on board a subway.
I give up.
Ack! I would but my brain i s f r e e z i
A person holding a bottle in a location where bottles are prohibited is one thing (Vermont dingbat) but individuals with a bottle where it is allowed is hardly suspicious.
That would explain the heavily armed SWAT team, bomb dogs and about 4 NYPD cars outside the Lexington Ave. #6 subway stop this morning.
This is getting pretty rediculous...
All those dry flavored mixes that these companies have marketed to add to your bottled water containers...
I can almost see that idea going the way of the Dodo...
Al Queida must be laughing their butts off now...
So I guess the Wino reeking of urine with a third arm growing out of his stomach is OK as long as he is out of booze.
I frequently use empty water bottles to carry juice, iced tea, etc., and fairly often have such a bottle in my briefcase on the 6 train. I don't take it out and drink it on the brief subway ride), but I very often do on inter-city commuter trains which I do a round trip on once a week. There's nothing the least bit odd about this, and for people who travel longer distances on the subways, and in some cases have spent the day at manual labor in sweltering heat, it would be perfectly normal to drink on the subway from a bottle you refilled with a colored beverage.
This story is about YESTERDAY morning. Which stop had the dogs, SWAT team, etc. this morning?
Actually, there seems to be a lot less tolerance for that since 9/11. Most of those people are quietly being removed from the subway stations, at least in Manhattan.
There are little packets of dehydrated crap people pour into water bottles all the time. No reason for someone to freak out.
53rd and Lex. It's a major stop. About 6 different train lines stop here -- 4, 5, 6, E, V
They were here 1 day last week also. It may have been Thursday.
Reminds me of how the people in the middle east deal with these kinds of things...
At some religious pilgrimage in Iraq last year, a guy was beat to death by the crowd because they thought he was wearing a bomb vest.
Apparently, he was a water vendor selling bottled water, and cleverly made himself a vest that he could carry all the bottles in. Apparently the crowd mistook it for a bomb vest. (No, I am not making this up)
His wife could be heard yelling at him "I told you not to use the ones with the red caps held on by the plastic strip..."
The terrorists are winning.
Because we're not profiling.
I know..Ice tea would be a good example.....I was referring to the timing.
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