ElNono
07-27-2009, 08:15 AM
LONG ISLAND MAN CHARGED WITH ATTACK ON US BASE IN AFGHANISTAN
By KATI CORNELL and KIERAN CROWLEY
Last updated: 9:39 pm
July 22, 2009
Posted: 1:12 pm
July 22, 2009
A 26-year-old Long Island truck driver -- who went to Pakistan to be trained by al Qaeda -- fired rockets at a US military base in Afghanistan and provided information about a possible terror attack on New York's subways and the Long Island Rail Road, court documents revealed today.
Bryant Neal Vinas, who was born in the US, raised as a Catholic but converted to Islam at a Selden, L.I. mosque, was arrested in Peshawar, Pakistan after trying to kill GIs in the September 2008 attack.
Court papers also revealed that Vinas provided al Qaeda with "expert advice and assistance" based on his "specialized knowledge" of New York's subways and the LIRR.
After he was captured in November he provided investigators with critical information about a plot to blow up the transit systems, a law enforcement official said.
Based on his disclosures, the NYPD officials flooded Penn Station with uniformed cops around Thanksgiving. ABC News reported then that al Qaeda wanted to place bombs or suicide bombers on LIRR trains and have them detonate explosives as they entered the station.
Bryant's horrified mother, Maria Luisa Uraga, said he moved out of her Medford home when he was 18. She said she knew he had been living in a hotel in Pakistan but was stunned when The Post told her of his al Qaeda connection.
"I know he's crazy but not that crazy," she said. "This is horrible."
She said her divorced husband "is involved in everything with my son."
Bryant's parents are immigrants from Peru and Argentina and he was raised as a Catholic. :stirpot:
Juan Vinas told the Los Angeles Times that his son was living with him in Patchogue but abruptly vanished in September 2007, saying he wanted to study Arabic and the Koran. He began wearing Islamic robes and a skullcap, he said.
"I love him as a son," his mother said but added, "I don't know nothing about him."
Vinas -- who also used the names "Ibrahim," "Bashir al-Ameriki" (Bashir the American) and "Ben Yameen al-Kanadee" -- has been cooperating with investigators, both American and European, since his arrest.
His identity had been kept secret until court papers were unsealed today in Brooklyn federal court. He pleaded not guilty at a closed-door hearing in November, switched to a guilty plea in January and is being held at an undisclosed location.
Vinas was described as a former truck driver and car wash worker -- who also had "specialized knowledge" of the "communications equipment and personnel" of the city subway system and LIRR.
He is believed to have information about two terror cases in Europe and may be a prosecution witness against al Qaeda members who trained with him in Pakistan.
LINK (http://www.nypost.com/seven/07222009/news/nationalnews/long_island_man_charged_with_attack_on_u_180725.ht m)
By KATI CORNELL and KIERAN CROWLEY
Last updated: 9:39 pm
July 22, 2009
Posted: 1:12 pm
July 22, 2009
A 26-year-old Long Island truck driver -- who went to Pakistan to be trained by al Qaeda -- fired rockets at a US military base in Afghanistan and provided information about a possible terror attack on New York's subways and the Long Island Rail Road, court documents revealed today.
Bryant Neal Vinas, who was born in the US, raised as a Catholic but converted to Islam at a Selden, L.I. mosque, was arrested in Peshawar, Pakistan after trying to kill GIs in the September 2008 attack.
Court papers also revealed that Vinas provided al Qaeda with "expert advice and assistance" based on his "specialized knowledge" of New York's subways and the LIRR.
After he was captured in November he provided investigators with critical information about a plot to blow up the transit systems, a law enforcement official said.
Based on his disclosures, the NYPD officials flooded Penn Station with uniformed cops around Thanksgiving. ABC News reported then that al Qaeda wanted to place bombs or suicide bombers on LIRR trains and have them detonate explosives as they entered the station.
Bryant's horrified mother, Maria Luisa Uraga, said he moved out of her Medford home when he was 18. She said she knew he had been living in a hotel in Pakistan but was stunned when The Post told her of his al Qaeda connection.
"I know he's crazy but not that crazy," she said. "This is horrible."
She said her divorced husband "is involved in everything with my son."
Bryant's parents are immigrants from Peru and Argentina and he was raised as a Catholic. :stirpot:
Juan Vinas told the Los Angeles Times that his son was living with him in Patchogue but abruptly vanished in September 2007, saying he wanted to study Arabic and the Koran. He began wearing Islamic robes and a skullcap, he said.
"I love him as a son," his mother said but added, "I don't know nothing about him."
Vinas -- who also used the names "Ibrahim," "Bashir al-Ameriki" (Bashir the American) and "Ben Yameen al-Kanadee" -- has been cooperating with investigators, both American and European, since his arrest.
His identity had been kept secret until court papers were unsealed today in Brooklyn federal court. He pleaded not guilty at a closed-door hearing in November, switched to a guilty plea in January and is being held at an undisclosed location.
Vinas was described as a former truck driver and car wash worker -- who also had "specialized knowledge" of the "communications equipment and personnel" of the city subway system and LIRR.
He is believed to have information about two terror cases in Europe and may be a prosecution witness against al Qaeda members who trained with him in Pakistan.
LINK (http://www.nypost.com/seven/07222009/news/nationalnews/long_island_man_charged_with_attack_on_u_180725.ht m)