Three men with camera arrested at Easton reservoir
(Easton-AP)- Three Bridgeport area men were just trying out a new video camera when some people thought they might be terrorists in Easton.
The three men were arrested on trespassing charges at the Easton Reservoir last night.
Police got a call last night of three men of middle-eastern descent who were on the top of a water supply tank of the Easton Reservoir Filtration Plant.
One of the men was reportedly using a video camera to film the area around the plant and the reservoir dam.
The three were taken into custody and charged with trespassing for the suspicious activity.
The three are 21-year-old Juned Ahmed Choudhury of Bridgeport, 19-year-old Hassan Choudhury of Bridgeport and 19-year-old Redwander Chowdhury of Fairfield.
The FBI says it's confident there was no act of terrorism.
Officials say the three were passing by the reservoir when they decided to test out the new camera and they were not there to tamper with the water supply.
Testing of the water supply found no contamination.
Easton police chief John Solomon says because of the heightened state of security for reservoirs, the FBI and state emergency officials were notified.
Video Shoot Brings Out Terror Response Team
3 Arrested At Reservoir; Family Wonders If Ethnicity Played Role
May 18, 2002
By DAVE ALTIMARI, Courant Staff Writer
EASTON -- All Redwander Chowdhury wanted to do, his family said Friday, was try out the new digital camcorder he had bought on eBay earlier in the week for $340.
Knowing he was heading home to Bangladesh to visit family on June 11, the 19-year-old Fairfield University student planned to shoot some pictures of beautiful Connecticut scenery to show them. On Thursday night he and two cousins, Juned Ahmed Choudhury and Hassan Choudhury, chose the Easton Reservoir Dam and filtration plant.
They climbed a 32-foot water tower and started filming, unknowingly setting off an intensive emergency response by state officials after someone reported to Easton police that three "Middle Eastern" men were acting suspiciously near the reservoir, which supplies water to four communities.
Easton police arrested the three and alerted the FBI. While agents were checking the cousins' car for bombs or chemical weapons, everyone from the National Guard to the Department of Public Health descended on this small town as the state put its new terrorism response plan into action.
"It was a bizarre incident, to say the least," Easton Police Chief John F. Solomon said Friday. "They were up there for a good half-hour. I want to make it absolutely clear that the water is safe and there's nothing to worry about."
The water tank the men climbed was immediately shut down. State health officials took several water samples and preliminary results showed nothing unusual, state Department of Public Health Commissioner Joxel Garcia said. The reservoir serves Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield and Trumbull.
The three men were released about 3 a.m. after the FBI checked for any terrorist ties and made sure their immigration status was in order.
They were charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, a Class C misdemeanor, and must appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on June 5. Law enforcement authorities still have the car and the video camera.
"We ran everything to ground and we're confident there was no terrorist activity," said FBI Agent Michael Wolf, who is in charge of the case.
At a press conference Friday attended by Wolf; Garcia; Connecticut's director of homeland security, Vincent DeRosa; and Maj. Gen. William Cugno, adjutant general of the Connecticut National Guard, officials defended the all-out response in this post-9/11 atmosphere.
All denied that the response was triggered by the original description of the men as "Middle Eastern."
"You had a report of three men trespassing on watershed property. That's going to get investigated regardless of ethnicity," Wolf said.
But Redwander Chowdhury's family members said they wonder if that's true.
"We are law-abiding citizens and this is very shameful to us," said his father, Mohammed Chowdhury.
Mohammed said his son called about 1:30 a.m. to say that FBI agents were asking him about making bombs and whether he was connected to any terrorists.
The family has lived in Fairfield for three years. Hassan Choudhury, 19, and Juned Choudhury, 21, live in Bridgeport.
Mohammed Chowdhury said his son was excited to have purchased the digital recorder for such a low price. They normally cost about $700, his son told him.
Redwander had shot some videos of his father and his uncle, Abdul Zargirdar, on the beginning of the tape seized by the FBI.
"It's not fair that they arrested them," Zargirdar said. "They didn't know they were doing something wrong, and then they end up in jail for four hours and people are asking if they make bombs."
Meanwhile, even as authorities were lauding the state's new emergency response system, they acknowledged that security at reservoirs still needs to be reviewed.
"This certainly highlights the ease of access to the reservoirs," said Peter Galant, engineer for the water company. "We've been re-evaluating our security since 9/11 and will continue to do so."