World

Mass Transit put on alert, Grand Central Station NYC guarded

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | September 22, 2009 at 05:35 am

755 views | 66 Recommendations | 7 comments

Due to the terror probe involving as many as 12 Denver, Colorado area men, and one New Yorker, the Office of Homeland Security has issued an alert for the entire US mass transit system, particularly in the New York City area. Search and seizure warrants were issued for both Denver, CO residences and Queens, New York, because of the alleged connection to members of al Quaeda.

The defense attorney of the young man central to this case claims it is all a mistake, and that his client was simply attempting to help the FBI by answering their questions and wound up being charged. However, the parallels to a recent United Kingdom transit terror plot were so strong as to make Federal officials take the case extremely seriously:

A 24-year-old Afghan man at the center of an unfolding FBI investigation into a possible U.S. terrorism cell was ordered held without bond in Colorado Monday as authorities raced to learn more about an alleged plot using hydrogen peroxide explosives and who else might have been helping to carry it out.
Meanwhile, authorities in Washington and elsewhere were stepping up safety patrols on mass transit systems in response to an advisory issued in connection with the probe.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Burean of Investigations sent a bulletin to transit agencies Friday repeating past warnings to be on guard for attacks on mass transit systems, and identifying hydrogen peroxide-based explosives as a specific risk. Federal officials called the notice "precautionary", and said it included possible countermeasures such as random checks of stations, trains and buses.

Local officials in Washington said the notice specifically mentioned Grand Central Station in New York City, but said they nevertheless increased the number of random patrols being conducted. Because there was no specific threat for this region, officials said, the patrols stopped short of passenger bag checks.

1 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

A. Tran

at 06:27 on September 22nd, 2009

Actually, it is not just in my hometown, NYC, but the mass transit system across the nation, due to the arrest of some of the alleged terrorists over the weekend.

Counter-terrorism officials are warning mass transit systems around the nation to step up patrols because of fears an Afghanistan-born immigrant under arrest in Colorado may have been plotting to detonate backpack bombs aboard New York City trains.
In the Bay Area, Joe Shadler with the FBI tells KCBS there is no intelligence of a direct threat to the Bay Area. BART and MUNI officials say they are aware of a bulletin issued to transit agencies to conduct random sweeps at transit terminals and stations. They say their security is at a high level and unchanged.

NYC is on heightened alert because of the United Nations General Assembly meeting, but that is not unusual at all for a city that is accustomed to handling high level security.

AGK

at 06:30 on September 22nd, 2009

True, but New York City and GCS are specifically mentioned in the alert report, because the terror plot had targeted New York City, and one of the suspects was residing in Queens, NYC. smkovalinsky

azur (not verified)

at 07:13 on September 22nd, 2009

yeah, the terror-plot... for sure. high level security comedy everywhere.

Vic De Zen

at 08:06 on September 22nd, 2009

This is the world we live in now. I think there is a lot of effort being put into looking out for the terrorist acts we do know. What about what we don't know?