NEW YORK, April 25: A police informer told a US Federal District court in Brooklyn on Monday that a Pakistani immigrant, angered by the war in Iraq and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, wanted to punish Americans in 2004 by bombing one of New York City’s busiest subway stations.
The Pakistani, Shahawar Matin Siraj, 23, and alleged co-conspirator James Elshafay were arrested on Aug 27, 2004 on the eve of Republican National convention.
They drew diagrams of the subway station before being arrested, the New York City’s Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said shortly after their arrests that the men never obtained explosives and had not been linked to known terrorist groups.
The informant Osama Eldawoody, an Egyptian national, told the court that Matin Siraj vowed to “teach these people a lesson”.
In his opening statement, prosecutor Todd Harrison said Siraj considered several potential targets including the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge before settling on the Herald Square subway station, located beneath Macy’s flagship department store.
Defence attorney Martin Stolar claimed his client was entrapped by Eldawoody while the informant was trying to infiltrate a Brooklyn mosque.
