By Carol Eisenberg
Newsday
Related: London police foil major terror plot
NEW YORK — Concerned about copycat attacks following the foiled British bomb plot, New York City police are on the lookout for cars with sagging rears, bulging tires, or recent welding that might indicate they’re packed with explosives.
An analysis of the plot by the New York Police Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau also warned that luxury sedans may pose particular risks because they blend more easily into high-risk areas.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly played down any imminent risk yesterday, saying he had seen no specific intelligence about a plot against the city.
“We’ve been focused on parking garages for quite a while,” he noted, recalling a foiled 2004 plot by a British al-Qaida operative to blow up buildings in London and New York City using limousines packed with propane gas cylinders and shrapnel.
Nonetheless, Kelly said he has stepped up counterterror tactics, ranging from subway bag searches to vehicle stops. “We have checkpoints ... on bridges and some located in Manhattan,” he said. “We’re checking parking garages, asking owners and we’re doing it ourselves to look for suspicious vehicles.”
Kelly said he also planned to deploy more police officers in the runup to July 4th celebrations in observation posts, helicopters and boats.
While homeland security officials stressed yesterday they saw no reason to raise alert levels, they urged the public to continue being vigilant.
“History has shown that, with the exception of 9/11, it’s really about explosives in backpacks and cars,” said New York State Deputy Public Safety Secretary Michael Balboni. “It’s the chosen method of terrorists, whether in Iraq or Palestine, or Madrid, London and Bali.”
As such explosives become more prevalent, Balboni said, the public’s eyes and ears are more essential. “The ‘see something, say something’ approach is absolutely essential to preventing a terror attack,” he said.
Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said that, unlike terror plots targeting aviation, “the bottom line is there’s virtually no way to protect yourself against a car bomb, because there are so many potential sites, and so many cars.”
For that reason, he said, preemptive efforts are key. “You have to try to stop the plot before it begins ... You have to infiltrate, you have to use surveillance, you have to ask the public to be alert, you have to use informants.”
Several officials noted parallels between the unexploded car bombs in London and the foiled 2004 plot by Dhiren Barot, also known as Esa al-Hindi, who planned attacks on the New York Stock Exchange, the World Bank and landmark London hotels.
Among Barot’s possessions, police found a 39-page blueprint for mass murder entitled “Rough Presentation for Gas Limo Project.” The document laid out a plan for packing three limousines with propane gas cylinders and explosives, and detonating the bombs in underground parking garages.
Barot, convicted in Britain in November, touted limousines because they “blend in” and “can transport larger payloads than sedans ... and do not require special driving skills,” according to an FBI warning issued after his seizure. In addition, he had noted that tinted windows could hide explosive devices.
Copyright 2007 Newsday