An aerial view of the scene where raids took place in New York is shown.
These are two of three buildings raided in Flushing, Queens by cops looking for bombs.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the raids were "preventive" but not related to the president's visit. He chair the Home Security Committee for Senate.
Federal law enforcement agents and New York police raided several locations in New York City as part of a joint terrorism investigation, a police department spokesman said.
Searches took place in the borough of Queens, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter who added that investigators had suspects under surveillance. Dave Cardona, special agent in charge of the FBI’s criminal division in New York, confirmed the investigation. New York police are assisting in the matter, the department said.
Federal agents helped by local police began executing search warrants on residences in the borough of Queens on Sunday night.
Unnamed sources were quoted by US media as saying the raids were linked to an undercover surveillance operation.
Federal agents are reportedly due to brief senior members of Congress about the case.
New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne confirmed to the Associated Press that searches were conducted by agents of a joint terrorism task force.
The New York Times quoted an anonymous senior law enforcement official as saying the authorities had not detected a specific plot, but were suspicious of the activities of a small group of people who "espoused a militant ideology aligned with al-Qaeda".
New York Senator Charles Schumer, who was briefed by FBI officials, said he could not discuss much of the case because many of the details were still classified.
"There was nothing imminent, and they are very good now at tracking potentially dangerous actions and this was preventive," he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.
Previous convictions
In June, four men were indicted for allegedly plotting to set off explosives outside a New York City synagogue and shoot down military planes with Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, U.S. prosecutors said.
The charges against the men, residents of Newburgh, New York, include conspiracy and attempt to use weapons of mass destruction within the U.S., conspiracy and attempt to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles, and conspiracy and attempt to kill officers and employees of the U.S, according to the indictment.
The men were arrested in May after attempting to detonate explosives near a synagogue and Jewish community center in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, in New York City, according to the indictment. The four also plotted to shoot down military planes at the New York Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, prosecutors said.
The defendants, James Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen, have all pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial in federal court in White Plains, New York.
In July, Campbell’s office said that a New York man who pleaded guilty to launching a rocket attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan also said he provided information to al- Qaeda leaders about New York City’s transit system for a bomb attack.
The man, Bryant Neal Vinas, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, providing material support to a terrorist organization and receiving military-type training from a terrorist group on Jan. 28, according to court records unsealed in July in federal court in Brooklyn.
--------------Law enforcement agents have raided residences in New York City as part of a terrorism investigation, and are preparing to brief Congress about the investigation.
--------------
0 comments:
Post a Comment