NYC Mayor Not Sure Subway Threats Were Hoax
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171953,00.html
NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police officials questioned
reports on Tuesday that an alleged subway bomb plot that spread fear
through the city was a hoax.
"I don't know that it was confirmed that it was a hoax at all,"
Bloomberg said when asked about the reports by a cable news network and the
New York Post, which is owned by News Corp., the parent company of
FOXNews.com.
The reports, citing unnamed sources, claimed an informant in Iraq who
had told U.S. authorities about the possible threat by Al Qaeda later
admitted he made it up.
The informant's allegation prompted city and FBI officials last week to
issue a dire public warning and to flood the subway system with
thousands of extra police officers.
After four days of high alert, the officials announced Monday there was
no clear evidence an attack would be carried out and scaled back the
protection.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, appearing with Bloomberg at a
hospital groundbreaking in Harlem, said the informant could not have recanted
because U.S. authorities in Iraq had lost track of him.
"As far as we know right now, the source is not in custody," he said.
Bloomberg said the informant had passed a lie detector test at the time
he identified three suspects in Iraq, and alleged they were plotting to
use other operatives in New York to attack the subway with briefcases
and baby carriages packed with explosives. Officials have also said the
informant had provided reliable information in the past.
Kelly said he participated in an interagency conference call on
Thursday before issuing the public warning, and during the meeting he learned
that one of the alleged plotters had indicated it was "too late" to
prevent the attack.
"Certainly it was a factor," Kelly said. "We had to make a decision
quickly."
The mayor continued to insist the city didn't overreact.
"When somebody makes an allegation, and it looks like there is some
credibility -- and clearly there was credibility here -- you go and you
act on it," he said.
A call to the FBI's New York office was not immediately returned.
Thanks to nw_arizona_granny for pointing to this article:
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"NYC Mayor Not Sure Subway Threats Were Hoax"
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,171953,00.html
AP
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police officials questioned reports on Tuesday that an alleged subway bomb plot that spread fear
through the city was a hoax.
"I don't know that it was confirmed that it was a hoax at all,"
Bloomberg said when asked about the reports by a cable news network and the
New York Post, which is owned by News Corp., the parent company of
FOXNews.com.
The reports, citing unnamed sources, claimed an informant in Iraq who
had told U.S. authorities about the possible threat by Al Qaeda later
admitted he made it up.
The informant's allegation prompted city and FBI officials last week to
issue a dire public warning and to flood the subway system with
thousands of extra police officers.
After four days of high alert, the officials announced Monday there was
no clear evidence an attack would be carried out and scaled back the
protection.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, appearing with Bloomberg at a
hospital groundbreaking in Harlem, said the informant could not have recanted
because U.S. authorities in Iraq had lost track of him.
"As far as we know right now, the source is not in custody," he said."