Crime

AP: FBI Declined to Pursue NYC Bomb Plot

Federal authorities declined to pursue a case against an “al-Qaida sympathizer” accused of wanting to bomb police stations and post offices in New York City because they believed he was mentally unstable and incapable of pulling off the alleged plot, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press Monday.

FBI Declined to Pursue NYC Bomb Plot

New York Police Department investigators reportedly sought to get the FBI involved at least twice as their undercover investigation of Jose Pimentel unfolded, the officials said. Both times, the FBI concluded that he was not a serious threat, officials said to The AP.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced in a press conference Sunday night that Pimentel had been arrested after the NYPD counter-terrorism unit had been surveilling the suspect for more than two years. The Anwar Al-Awlaki fan was gathering supplies and beginning to build bombs to detonate in New York City.

The FBI had concluded that 27-year-old Pimentel “didn’t have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own,” one one official told the AP.

The officials were not authorized to speak about the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. New York City authorities said that the FBI was involved in the case, but did not specifically say they declined to pursue the charges.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said there was communication with them but his office felt that given the timeline “it was appropriate to proceed under state charges.”

NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg said Sunday that Pimentel was motivated by terrorist propaganda and resentment of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Authorities said police had to move quickly to arrest Pimentel on Saturday – because he was approximately one hour from being able to detonate explosives.

“He was in fact putting this bomb together,” Kelly said. “He was drilling holes and it would have been not appropriate for us to let him walk out the door with that bomb.”

Kelly said Awlaki’s death in a drone strike in Yemen on September 30 had refocused Mr. Pimentel’s own timetable for going on the attack.

FBI Declined to Pursue NYC Bomb Plot

The Dominican-born suspect is a U.S. citizen, convert to Islam, and lived most of his life in Manhattan. He is being held after his arraignment on numerous terrorism-related charges, and his lawyer said Pimental’s behavior leading up to the arrest was not that of a conspirator trying to conceal some violent scheme. His lawyer Joseph Zablocki said Pimentel was public about his activities and was not trying to hide anything.

“I don’t believe that this case is nearly as strong as the people believe,” Zablocki said to to AP. “He (Pimentel) has this very public online profile. … This is not the way you go about committing a terrorist attack.”

The New York Times reports that Pimental praised Osama bin Laden in posts on his blog, while trying to justify the 9/11 attacks. “People have to understand that America and its allies are all legitimate targets in warfare,” he wrote in May while insinuating that Army bases, police stations and airports were all at risk. Pimental’s mother claims her son created trueislam1.com.

Authorizes said Sunday that police believe Pimental was acting as a lone wolf and plotted to bomb police patrol cars and postal facilities, targeted soldiers returning home from abroad, and also talked of bombing a police station in Bayonne, N.J.

Pimentel, also known as Muhammad Yusuf, was denied bail. AP reports that the suspect smiled at times during the proceeding. His mother and brother attended the arraignment, his lawyer said.

“I want to apologize to the City of New York,” Carmen Sosa, Pimentel’s mother, said to the New York Daily News Monday in the lobby of an uptown apartment building.

“I love the city. I’ve been here since 1987 and I’m very disappointed with what my son was doing. I didn’t raise him that way.

“I feel very bad about the situation. I thank the police. They did what they’re supposed to do.”

Sosa went on to tell the Daily News that she noticed her son’s attitude changed in 2001 when he converted to Islam:

“‘He started reading about the Koran,’ she said, describing how the then-teenager man began praying and sleeping a lot.

She said Pimentel’s sudden, fierce embrace of Islam prompted her to move him from upstate Schenectady to Harlem in 2010.

‘I brought him here because I didn’t like the way he was acting,’ she said. ‘I’m Catholic … I don’t support the Muslims.’”

Alexis Smith, 22, who lives in an apartment in the same building as Pimentel, told AP that she was shocked to here that her neighbor was a suspect in a terrorist plot. “He was always very courteous to us,” she said, adding that Pimentel helped her carry groceries and luggage into the building.

Comments (26)

  • SamIamTwo
    Posted on November 22, 2011 at 9:24am

    Oh yeah, has anyone ever meet a smart terrorist? They live in the bloody 17th century as far as they are concerned…and the tools to make bombs are easily found on the net.

    Another Holder decision, no doubt…he runs the outfit…don‘t bust anyone that you think you can’t win a case Holder. The FBI almost always asks DOJ if they would like to take up the case and if it is a political issue then they typically do not allow the FBI to purse it…Been there, saw that and testified.

    Report Post » SamIamTwo  
  • garbagecanlogic
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 9:02pm

    Knock, knock.
    Who’s there?
    FBI.
    FBI who?
    ??????

    The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
    The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

    Report Post »  
  • georgiavietvet
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 8:56pm

    obama is a muslim and holder won’t investigate or prosecute anyone whose skin is not white. put the two together and this kind of foolishness is what you get. to my mind its dereliction of duty, in that both obama and holder are charged with defending this country. they are failing to do so. grounds for impeachment i believe……………………..

    Report Post »  
    • Secret Squirrel
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 9:02pm

      .
      Obama put the word out.
      “If you like your cushy job, don’t even think of making muslims look bad.”
      Janet and Eric heard loud and clear.
      “Yes, sir, muslims are good.”

      Report Post » Secret Squirrel  
    • 1389AD
      Posted on November 22, 2011 at 1:38am

      Exactly.

      News flash for the FBI: Islam is catnip for crazies. It gets them going to do all kinds of bad stuff that it wouldn’t occur to them to do on their own. And it doesn’t take any rocket scientist to be destructive.

      Report Post »  
    • americathebeautiful
      Posted on November 23, 2011 at 10:07am

      This guy is simply following his religion based beliefs…..is that so wrong?

      Seriously folks, Islam will continue to push forward because they are instructed to do so for as long as it takes until Islam is not suppressed/oppressed. (which means – until Islam is the only belief system on earth. Thus, the world will be peaceful at that time of a full caliphate and why it’s called the religion of peace. Until then they are at war with any karif)

      Anyone using the Qu’ran as their instruct is dangerous. Read Surah 8 “The Spoils of War” it teaches death to all and deceive as many as possible to get to the goal. What the goal? Worldwide caliphate. What’s the means of getting there? Taqiyya is the deception of war and if you are not Islamic they are ALWAYS at war with you because you oppress them.

      This guy is a hero in Islamic eyes. He‘s only as crazy as what he’s been taught. The fact he’s been caught is a disappointment to Islam.

      Report Post »  
  • adalie
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 7:24pm

    Nidal Hassan, the psychiatrist who murdered 12 people at Fort Hood, was also very open about his Islamist extremism. Joseph Zablocki should seek a different defense strategy.

    Report Post »  
  • One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 6:30pm

    “The FBI had concluded that 27-year-old Pimentel “didn’t have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own,” one one official told the AP.”

    OH that makes me feel safe, as the mentally disturbed are the very people who commit these acts. They don’t consider the 19 hijackers to be mentally unstable? ANYONE who would strap a bomb on themselves and walk into sandwich shops, on buses, in bars and disco’s is a freaking mental case which includes about 90% of the Allah Brigade.

    Report Post » One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew  
  • buster2
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 5:39pm

    So a islamic terrorist is inept at putting together a bomb, so they aren’t going to persue this. HELLO FBI, you surveil this guy for two years, was this practice for the next terrorist. We have seen how lawless DOJ is under Holder, what is the saying “s…t rolls downhill” guess it did.

    Report Post »  
  • Marsh626
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 5:06pm

    They’re also trying to downplay his ties to islam and how it obviously inspired his jihadist ideology. Typical.

    Report Post »  
  • AJAYW
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 5:02pm

    You can darn well bet if Eric Holder can get this man off he will.

    Report Post »  
  • Michael747
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 4:57pm

    A recruited Jihadist is a “lone wolf?” Do you suppose that a recruited Tea Partyer, acting alone, doing it matters not what, would be so characterized? Why re we still letting Them ci=ontrol the dialogue?

    Report Post » Michael747  
  • SgtB
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 4:50pm

    I watched this “breaking news” last night. While the screen was filled with fluff and hype about how a terrorist operation was broken up they had the audacity to put on the news ticker at the bottom a story about a woman who actually did commit the murder of 5 people (4 of them children) and the big story was about how a guy they knew was building a bomb never got to use it. They even had the time before releasing this information to build a replica bomb and detonate it inside a car to show the “seriousness” of the situation. This was an act of futility as I am 100% certain that for $40 and a trip to any box store I could leave with enough material to cause an explosion 10x larger and deadly than the one this guy had made after apparently being trained overseas.

    BTW, a rudimentary formula for black powder can be found online readily it contains charcoal, stump remover, and dusting sulphur. All things you can buy cheaply. If someone really wanted to commit a terrorist act the FBI would never find out about it before hand. I am from Moore, OK and the explosion at the Alfred P. Murrah building nearly killed the parents of many of my classmates in gradeschool not to mention my cousin attending classes in a school across the street from the blast. So don’t you even dare think that I advocate terrorism. I’m merely saying that at best, our current system will only catch the worst (read stupidest) terrorists.

    Report Post » SgtB  
    • Lordchamp
      Posted on November 22, 2011 at 8:55am

      And if you happen to be a white tea party supporter they are coming for you now. That’s how broken the system is.

      We spend billions on “security”, yea right. Nothing more than a way to take away more of our individual freedoms and give them more power over us. It’s gotta stop.

      Report Post »  
  • SilentReader
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:57pm

    Typical. We have thugs and traitors in the White House aiding and abetting the vile Mohammedist enemy, and the Attorney General Nation-of-Cowards Eric Holder only prosecutes White people.

    Report Post » SilentReader  
  • kalli
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:50pm

    Several months ago, the FBI was made to remove any mention of mooslims, isllam, terrorists, al quaida, etc. from even their training manuals at the direction of the top mutt in this country due to CAIR’s actions to stop America from investigating accusations against them and their ilk of their terrorism in this country. The FBI can only pursue Americans, like returning military members, veterans, former law officers, etc. who are the greatest threat according to DHS and the mutt in our WH. CAIR is inside our gov’t and our WH, and we’re letting them have their way with us.

    Report Post »  
  • LOJ
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:44pm

    One can see how we are loosing the edge on National Security…Pimitel had the means to make bombs, so why couldn’t he committ crimes on his own, this doesn’t make sense.

    Report Post »  
  • Drum Man
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:29pm

    Federal Bureau of Idiots.

    Right up Bammys alley…

    Report Post » Drum Man  
  • progressiveslayer
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:27pm

    Holders people will not be investigated! His office said so in writing regarding voter intimidation.

    Report Post » progressiveslayer  
  • Ghandi was a Republican
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:13pm

    Just like Clinton.. And the obama strategy of crisis = yell for more Fed! It stinks of alinsky all up in ‘da house!

    Report Post » Ghandi was a Republican  
  • smackdown33
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:12pm

    This is the same FBI who had a bin Laden task force in the 1990′s and failed top pursue him. This is the same FBI that said that the downing of TWA 800 was due to a center-line tank electric pump malfunction, without any proof… and this was out there… and it fit perfectly with the events: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Airlines_Flight_434

    You decide, and when you do, remember the Tonkin Gulf lie back in 1964.

    Report Post »  
  • mitchrx7
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 3:11pm

    “…the FBI concluded that he was not a serious threat, officials said to The AP.”
    “The FBI had concluded that 27-year-old Pimentel “didn’t have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own,” one one official told the AP.”

    “Authorities said police had to move quickly to arrest Pimentel on Saturday – because he was approximately one hour from being able to detonate explosives”

    WTF!!!!!!!!

    And I don’t mean “Winning the Future”

    Report Post »  
    • AmericanPatriot01
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 4:43pm

      You are absolutely correct in your assertion. They have contradicted themselves in the SAME report!

      I have a feeling that if he was a teaparty supporter then he would be touted as the mastermind of a fully treasonous act. He is an OWS minion and has a dark complexion so I am sure they will just retrain him for their political action committee.

      Report Post » AmericanPatriot01  
  • BrerRabbit
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 2:58pm

    Obama’s FBI…..not surprised.

    Report Post »  

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