New York man plotted killing police,
attacking Times Square: prosecutors
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[June 08, 2019]
By Brendan Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man who
prosecutors say plotted an attack on Times Square, spoke about killing
police officers and praised Islamic militants appeared in court on
firearms charges on Friday and was denied bail.
Ashiqul Alam, 22, from Jackson Heights in the city's Queens borough, was
charged with illegally acquiring firearms as part of the attack plan,
federal officials said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak ordered Alam detained without bail
after a brief court hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on
Friday. His next court appearance is set for June 21 at 11 a.m. (1300
GMT).
Alam's lawyer, James Darrow, had asked for his client to be released on
$200,000 bond, under home confinement and with an ankle monitor. He said
Alam lived with his parents, who were both in the courtroom and prepared
to sign the bond.
Alam was arrested on Thursday after receiving two Glock 19
nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistols with their serial numbers
stripped off from undercover law enforcement officers, according to a
complaint unsealed on Friday in Brooklyn federal court.
During meetings with an undercover federal agent, Alam expressed support
for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York as well as the militant
group Islamic State, according to the complaint. He also discussed using
an explosive suicide vest in an attack.
"As alleged, Ashiqul Alam bought illegal weapons as part of his plan to
kill law enforcement officers and civilians in a terrorist attack on
Times Square,” U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue, whose office brought the
charges, said in a statement.
Alam had proposed an attack either in Times Square or an attack in
Washington to kill a U.S. government official, the complaint said.
In April, Alam met the undercover officer at a shooting range in
Pennsylvania, according to the complaint. While driving to the range,
Alam told the officer that he had scheduled an appointment for laser
vision correction, the complaint said.
When the officer asked him why, Alam said he was concerned his glasses
would fall off during the attack and he would accidentally shoot the
officer, and joked that the media would call him the "Looney Toons
Terrorist" or "Blind Terrorist," according to the complaint.
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New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers patrol in Time
Square after a man was arrested in an alleged plot to buy grenades
for an attack on Times Square in New York, U.S., June 7, 2019.
REUTERS/Mike Segar
Alam is a rising senior at John Jay College and has two jobs, his
lawyer said at the hearing. When asked about Alam, a spokesman for
John Jay College said it does not release information about
individual students.
Times Square, with its millions of visitors each year, is often
called the crossroads of the world, and has been targeted by at
least two bombers in recent years, despite the presence of heavily
armed police.
On May 1, 2010, police thwarted an attempted car bomb in Times
Square, defusing a crude device made out of firecrackers and propane
gas tanks.
A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty to the plot, admitting
that he had received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban
and that the group, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had funded
the plot. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In December 2017, a Bangladeshi man set off a homemade pipe bomb
strapped to his body in a crowded underground pedestrian tunnel near
Times Square. The man, Akayed Ullah, was convicted of six criminal
counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction and support of
a terrorist organization.
Kate Fan, a 28-year-old charity worker visiting from Guangzhou,
China, said she had heard about the incident but still felt safe.
"We hear a lot of stories about New York being unsafe, but we feel
like people sometimes exaggerate safety issues,” she said.
(Writing and additional reporting by Meredith Mazzilli, Peter
Szekely and Ayenat Mersie; editing by Frank McGurty, Nick Zieminski
and James Dalgleish)
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