This is a novel way to get back at the people you think have screwed you over in the past: A jeweler in Brooklyn falsely claimed other Syrian jewelers were plotting to bomb the subway. Rimon Alkatri, a Syrian Jew, was arrested by police for making the false claim, which resulted in an extensive investigation by the city's various anti-terror teams. The NY Times describes Alkatri's tip and the details made the police believe it had merit:
In a call to New York City’s terrorism hot line in May, the informant described the plot in chilling detail: Syrians working in the jewelry business had hatched a plan to carry out a suicide bombing in the subway system on one of the most symbolic days of the year, Independence Day.
They had hidden explosives in hollowed-out jewelry, the informant said, and then used their professional know-how to import the jewelry and bring it to a store that one of them owned in New York.
To clinch the story, the informant, who identified himself as Jose Rodriguez and said he was from Israel, told the police officer answering the hot line that he had overheard the plotters use the Arab expression “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.”
The NYPD and other agencies spent $100,000 investigating the five men (surveillence, bomb sniffing dogs, repeated visits to their homes and businesses), who turned out not to be Muslims but Jews and Christians. And they were ex-business associates of Alkatri, who may have been upset over a deal.
The Manahttan DA's office is looking for Alkatri to serve seven years in jail. Alkatri's lawyer, though, claims his client truly believed a nefarious plot was afoot and said, "I thought it's, 'If you see something, say something.' Not, 'If it's not true, we're going to arrest you.'"
Photograph by Frank Franklin II/AP
