NEW YORK, July 7: US law enforcement authorities said on Friday that they have disrupted a plot by foreign terrorists to attack the tunnel system running under lower Manhattan. The so-called Holland Tunnel connects Manhattan to Newark, (New Jersey) through a roadway and a subway train system.

“We have disrupted a terrorist network that was in the planning stages of an attack,” a statement released by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security said. The agencies said the FBI had been monitoring internet chat rooms and cited the arrest of a key suspect by Lebanese authorities as a significant break in the investigation.

The police told reporters that one of the alleged plotters, identified as Amir Andalousli, has been arrested in Lebanon at the US request.

Lebanese authorities also said that in coordination with US law enforcement agencies, arrested an Al Qaeda operative who admitted to plotting a terror attack in New York City.

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, because the investigation is ongoing, said the arrest was made a month ago. The suspect was identified as Amir Andalousli, but his real name is Assem Hammoud, a Beirut native, the official said. According to the New York Daily News, the scheme was to blow up the Holland Tunnel, with the aim of causing a torrent of water to shoot out and flood New York’s financial district.

However, one local police official said that “It did not appear that the city’s tunnels were ever at serious risk.”

New York’s transportation system has emerged as a potential terrorist threat in several recent cases. A book highlighted a reported plot by Al Qaeda terrorists to kill thousands of New Yorkers by spreading cyanide gas in the subway. In May, a man was convicted of plotting to blow up one of Manhattan’s busiest subway stations.