An alleged terrorist was accused of plotting to bomb police and post offices in New York City as well as U.S. troops returning home. The “Al-Qaeda sympathizer” has been arrested on Saturday for several terrorism-related charges.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference on Sunday that Jose Pimentel of Manhattan is “a 27-year-old Al Qaeda sympathizer” who was motivated by terrorist propaganda and hate towards U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
According to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, they had to arrest Pimentel quickly on Saturday because he was on the verge of carrying out his bombing attack.
“We had to act quickly yesterday because he was in fact putting this bomb together. He was drilling holes and it would have been not appropriate for us to let him walk out the door with that bomb,” said Kelly, who added that Pimentel was ready to carry out his plan by the September 30 killing of Al Qaeda’s U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. strike in Yemen earlier this year. “He decided to build the bomb August of this year, but clearly he jacked up his speed after the elimination of al-Awlaki,” the commissioner said.
The mayor said that Pimentel seemed “to be a total lone wolf. He was not a part of a larger conspiracy emanating from abroad.” Rather, Bloomberg said Pimentel is the type of threat that carries out small scale attacks.
Since the 9/11 incident, New York has remained a major target for terrorism and has been the subject of at least 13 terrorist plots. Fortunately, none of those plots had been successful. Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad is now serving life sentence for an attempt to detonate a car bomb in Times Square in May 2010.
Pimentel, a U.S. citizen, originally came from the Dominican Republic and came to the U.S. when he was eight. After converting to Islam, he went by the name Muhammad Yusuf. For at least one year, he was been watched by the New York police who worked with a confidential informant. Pimentel was in the process of constructing a bomb but there was no injury to anyone or damage to property. The mayor said they have no evidence that Pimentel was working with others.
When he was arrested on Saturday, Pimentel was accused of possessing explosive substance which he was going to use to terrorize the public. The charges also included a conspiracy in October 2010, first-degree criminal possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism, and soliciting support for a terrorist act. He was held without bail at his arraignment on Sunday.
He allegedly crafted a bomb on his mother’s couch following directions in the article “How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom” from Al Qaeda’s English-language online magazine Inspire. Anwar al-Awlaki was one of the contributors to this magazine.
“He was a reader of Al Qaeda’s online magazine Inspire and inspire him it did,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance.
According to Kelly, a confidential informant spoke with Pimentel on September 7 where he expressed interest in making small banks and attacking banks, government and police buildings. Pimentel, a Muslim convert, wrote blogs on his website trueislam1.com that clearly showed he supported Al Qaeda and believed in jihad. One of his posts said, “People have to understand that America and its allies are all legitimate targets in warfare.”
Pimentel had spent most of his years in Manhattan and stayed for about 5 years in Schenectady. Kelly said the police in Albany tipped New York City police about Pimentel’s activities.
Recent Comments