NYC Warned of 'Emergency' Threat (Scary)

ABC News ^ | June 20, 2002

[max_rpf]

NYC on Alert for Emergency Vehicle Car Bombs

N E W   Y O R K, June 20 — Police and fire officials in New York are being warned that terrorists may be trying to acquire surplus or replica emergency vehicles to use as car bombs that could be planted near government buildings or landmarks without drawing attention.

A law enforcement source confirmed a report in The New York Daily News today that officials were alerted to the plot when two unidentified Middle Eastern men tried to buy a replica ambulance at a northern New Jersey shop that builds copies of emergency vehicles, police cars and fire trucks.

The owner of the shop became suspicious when the men tried to pay cash, and the pair fled without leaving any identification, the source told the News.

"This is a real concern. Terrorists have used ambulances to sneak suicide bombers into areas," the souce told the newspaper.

Among the sites officials fear could be targeted are City Hall, FBI offices, police department headquarters and even fire department facilities.

Fire department and police investigators have already begun efforts to ensure that unauthorized people cannot gain access to facilities where emergency vehicles are stored or repaired, fire department sources told the News.

"We've been told to watch our vehicles, all our vehicles," a fire department source said. "It's the vehicles that can get into areas that we are really concerned about. Who is not going to let a patrol car pass, or an ambulance, especially if we are in a state of emergency?"

The alert comes as the city is gearing up for July Fourth festivities, which generally draw huge crowds to fireworks displays around Manhattan.

[txhurl]

We were also told to 'fasten our safety belts'.

[cake_crumb]

"(Maybe leave some fresh pork in the vehicles?)"

HEY, now THAT is a good idea!! In fact, I'm going to tell local fire chiefs tonight. If the terrorists have IQ of one over a plant, they'll try going outside of NY next time...if they didn't already, that is.

[lilsparky]

The thing is, this is just one more direction for us to run in (or away from) on top of subways, apartments, scuba divers, crop-dusters, shipping containers. What did I leave out?

Terrorism comes in many forms, some we don't even realize until we are in the middle of it. Death by a thousand cuts. You don't have to blow up an ambulance to cause disruption, fear, concern. Just say you might do it and sit back and see what happens.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Might as well arrest the shop owner, because the two men who attempted to buy the vehicle "have their rights", even if the FBI, CIA, ATF and others have a ton of proof on them!

Post bail!

[mitchbert]

I feel it's imperative to try and think in the most diabolical and evil mode we can if we're going to thwart these kind of things. After all, normal civilized people don't imagine flying an aircraft into an office tower as a default behavior, at least not before 9/11. These animals are working from an entirely different paradigm. Worst case thinking is required. It's become obvious that we have jihadists in our midst that are actively plotting mass terror. 9/11 was clearly not a one-off. Beyond chilling.

It's too bad the businessman didn't think to try the "I'll have it ready tomorrow" concept and call the feds as was suggested on this thread, but I'm sure the incident caught him off guard to a large degree. Unless we are constantly in terror mode we aren't expecting these kind of incidents.

One suggestion I have for any business that an owner deems likely to attract these barbarians for material to commit terrorism would be the acquisition of a simple and inexpensive video security system and a VCR, perhaps a time lapse model designed for long period recording. Either that or use a very long tape on slow speed record that can be reused every few days. At least then if a similar incident occurs there might be a visual record of the perp. Security cameras can be obtained that are disguised as wall clocks and other devices that would never tip off a "customer" that they are being taped. At least then the authorities would have something more concrete than a simple description. The cost is not that high and really insignificant when compared to the good it might do.

Just a thought.

Stay alert and just a little paranoid for good measure.

[cake_crumb]

"He should have said he'd gladly accept cash but that he needed to prep the vehicle (or some believable stalling excuse), then contact the FBI and tell them to be there to greet the potential terrorists. It would have been nice to interrogate them."

You've got a good point there.

[txhurl]

My proposed speech is even shorter:

Hey, Islamos, occasionally Americans flip out and go a-lynchin. Sometimes the carnage count gets rather large before mgmt. can intervene. Sure, swift and deadly.

Thank you.

[eno_]

Why do you think there is a U.S. and a U.K. Trident deployed near Iraq? It isn't as if Iraq could not be erased by a launch from 3000 miles away. I'm sure the warning has been given. This is playing for keeps. If smallpox is unleashed, millions dead. So this is not quite a big a deal as all out thermonuclear war between the West and the USSR, but it's within shouting distance.

[Dales]

lol

But seriously, I can't see that as a second amendment issue, unless you are suggesting that people should open fire on emergency vehicles just to make sure that if the guy driving it is a terrorist, he gets shot before going boom.

[Sir Gawain]

I was just making more of a general statement about self-defense in NY.

[Dales]

I know.

I just got this mental picture of some of my NY relatives opening fire on an ambulance and it cracked me up.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Except that he might end up like a charred chicken the same as Katherine Smith from the Tennessee driver's license fraud case. For those unfamiliar with Katherine Smith, see http://www.freerepublic.com/fo cus/fr/686827/posts.

[itssoamusing]

A Speech I'd Like to Hear George W. Bush Make


I absolutely agree!!! I'm getting so sick of reading these articles everyday. This person wants to scuba dive and this person wants an ambulance, hate me for this and hate me for that. You want to take pictures and video tape us. Do it you FREAKS and watch what happens once our society has finally reached its intolerance.

Very well stated Ghost!!!!

[swarthyguy]

From opinionjournal.com - today - Even when you hear something that looks promising, you have to parse it.



"The Israeli group IMRA reports that 55 "prominent Palestinians" have signed a statement urging an end to suicide attacks. Well, sort of. The statement apparently doesn't express any moral objection to massacring Jews, arguing instead that it's a self-defeating tactic because it tends to "increase the number of countries supporting the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people." The statement also limits its objection to attacks within the "green line"--that is, Israel's boundaries before the 1967 Six Day War. As IMRA notes, that leaves out yesterday's and Tuesday's massacres, which occurred in parts of Jerusalem that were under Jordanian occupation before 1967.

Ha'aretz reports Yasser Arafat was to have issued a similar "condemnation" but canceled it, "citing technical reasons."

[concerned about politics]

NYC is the liberal mecca. Don't even go near there if you can avoid it.
Mokhtar Lamani, a Moroccan diplomat who represents the 53-nation Organization of Islamic Conferences at the United Nations said liberal Western activists and governments had offended the religious and cultural sensitivities of Islamic countries by proposing that a final conference declaration include explicit references to the need to protect prostitutes, intravenous drug users and "men who have sex with men" from contracting AIDS.
It apprears Muslims hate liberals. Go figure!

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

From opinionjournal.com - today - Even when you hear something that looks promising, you have to parse it.

Agreed. It doesn't pay to be optimistic -- too disappointing.

Gonna be a long and winding road.

[Steve Eisenberg]

If he was suspicious if they wanted to pay cash, he should have said FINE, but I need to prep the car and you can pick it up in the morning.

Maybe something similar did happen. According to the Daily News, this happenned within the past two weeks. I presume that the shop was put under surveillance in the hope that the terrorists would return, but when they did not, the authorities let the press in on what went down.

Although terrorists are dumb, there is a limit (sometimes) to their stupidity. They probably insisted on getting the vehicle delivered immediately because of the fear that if they ever returned to that shop, they would be walking into the arms of FBI.