Suspects linked to Iran have been spotted allegedly posing as tourists in order to stakeout potential terror targets in New York City.
A senior New York police official disclosed that at least 13 suspects with ties to the Iranian government had been questioned by authorities in the last seven years after conducting surveillance of possible attack sites.
Suspects linked to Iran have been spotted allegedly posing as tourists in order to stakeout potential terror targets in New York City.
A senior New York police official disclosed that at least 13 suspects with ties to the Iranian government had been questioned by authorities in the last seven years after conducting surveillance of possible attack sites.
Mitchell Silber, the New York Police Department’s director of intelligence analysis, said the city’s large Jewish population and international significance as a terror target made it ripe for a strike by either Iran or Hizbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group it sometimes uses as a proxy.
Testifying before the House of Representative’s Homeland Security Committee, he said the suspects included six people on a sightseeing cruise who were taking photographs and film of well-known New York landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge in 2005.
And in September 2010, federal air marshals detained four people taking pictures and films at a heliport in the city.
During questioning, all 13 people admitted that they were associated with the Iranian government, but they were ultimately released without charge.