ISIS plot to carry out mass shootings in Times Square, the NYC Subway and at music concerts is thwarted by police
One Canadian citizen has pleaded guilty and two men are charged in terror plot
Allegedly planned to attack Times Square and NYC subway with bombs and guns
Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 19, pleaded guilty to role in plotting attacks
Talha Haroon, 19, a US citizen living in Pakistan, allegedly planned to join him
Russell Salic, 37, a Philippine citizen, allegedly wired funds from Phillipines
Plot also targeted concert venues; prosecutors say the three are ISIS supporter
By KEITH GRIFFITH
DAILYMAIL.COM
7 October 2017
Investigators have thwarted an ISIS-inspired mass shooting and bomb plot targeting Times Square, concert venues, and the subway system in New York City.
Prosecutors on Thursday unsealed charges against Canadian citizen Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, 19, Philippine citizen Russell Salic, 37, and Talha Haroon, a 19-year-old US citizen residing in Pakistan.
All three were arrested months ago, but the charges had been sealed as investigators with the FBI and NYPD Counterterrorism Unit searched for possible co-conspirators.
El Bahnasawy is in US custody and has pleaded guilty to federal terror charges, while the other two men await extradition from foreign custody to face charges in the US.
Prosecutors say the three men plotted to bomb and shoot up heavily populated areas of New York City during the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan in 2016.
El Bahnasawy took the lead on the ground, entering the US from Canada to secure a cabin near New York City to use as an operating base and bomb-making facility, according to investigators.
Meanwhile, Haroon met with explosives experts in Pakistan and planned to join El Bahnasawy in the US to carry out the attacks, and Salic sent support funds from the Philippines, according to prosecutors.
The three men communicated with each other using a messaging app, but were tricked into revealing their plan to an undercover agent on the app posing as an ISIS member.
‘[W]e seriously need a car bomb at times square… Look at these crowds of people!’ El Bahnasawy messaged the undercover agent along with a picture of the New York City landmark last May, according to prosecutors.
El Bahnasawy also spoke glowingly of a plan to ‘shoot up concerts cuz they kill a lot of people,’ the indictment said.
‘[W]e just walk in with guns in our hands. That’s how the Paris guys did it,’ the message said in apparent reference to the November 2015 attacks on the Bataclan theater, which left 130 dead in Paris.
Meanwhile, Haroon allegedly felt that the New York subway was a ‘perfect’ target, telling the undercover there would be plenty of ‘women and kids’ to target and adding: ‘when we run out of bullets we let the vests go off.’
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