FBI: NYC Cabbie Sought to Buy Explosives

Fox Newz via AP ^ | 5/22/03 | Unknown

[Blood of Tyrants]

NEW YORK — The FBI (search) arrested a New York cab driver after he allegedly tried to buy enough explosives "to blow up a mountain," scoped out bridges in Miami and lied to agents about his activities.

Sayed Abdul Malike, 43, was ordered held without bail Wednesday at an arraignment in federal court.

[Blood of Tyrants]

According to the left, Biush isn't doing anything to combat terrorism here in the U.S.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Only 6 years in prison?!

[Principled]

friggin Muslims.

[CFW]

So, I guess the valium was so he would be nice and calm while handling the explosives?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Maybe if he was handling nitroglycerin.

[SJSAMPLE]

If a NYC cabbie wants to kill some Americans, the stench alone should do it.

[rintense]

Holy crap! Remember this post???

Thread here

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To: CedarDave

My question is this: how hard would be for a Middle Eastern cab driver to turn his cab into a car bomb? I mean, when you think of the number of Arab cab drivers in NYC, DC, etc., wouldn't this be the perfect cover for them? Cabs go everywhere in major cities...

77 posted on 05/20/2003 2:59 PM EDT by rintense (Freedom is contagious. And everyone wants to catch it.)

[Conspiracy Guy]

Looks like we need to add cabs in with tanker trucks, rental trucks, bicycle, etc on the TSA/GPS tracking list. We need to put a police officer in or on every conveyance. Track all that deviate from their filed path.

Jeez we need to send all these people back home.

[FreeTheHostages]

So, I guess the valium was so he would be nice and calm while handling the explosives?

Let me help out here with some knowledge from my prosecutor days. Afghanistan is a major exporter of heroin (or its poppy precursor). Increasingly, many people in and from Afghanistan (as well as neighboring Pakistan) are getting addicted to heroin. When you use heroin, people sometimes combine its use with valium. Which is all very dangerous.

[CedarDave]

Calling Matt Lauer. Your cabbie friends miss you.

[CFW]

Which is all very dangerous.

Not to mention stupid!

[kcvl]

The investigation into Sayed Abdul Malike began in late March when a Queens store owner told police that the suspect was asking for information on how to make a bomb.

Malike later traveled to Miami, where he boarded a tourist ship for a sightseeing trip around the port. While videotaping the bridges they passed, he asked the captain of the ship "about the infrastructure of bridges ... and about how close the boat could get to the bridges and cruise ships," Renner recounted in a court deposition.

The captain reported Malike's behavior to the Coast Guard, and Malike was later interviewed by FBI agents in Miami. He claimed to be simply taking tourist pictures, but he left the video with the agents and was permitted to leave.

Upon his return to New York, Malike was directed by the store owner to an undercover agent posing as an illegal explosives supplier.

During a series of several meetings with the undercover agent, all of which the agent recorded, Malike also attempted to buy five bulletproof vests, night vision goggles, a camera for the front of his car, 50 sleeping pills and 100 Valium pills, in addition to a half-case of C-4 for $10,000.

The agent later sold Malike the Valium and placebo sleeping pills for $150, and Malike repeated his interest in purchasing the explosives but "he still didn't have a place to store it." Immediately after the purchase of the pills, FBI agents arrested Malike.

[kcvl]

When he was questioned, Malike denied discussing explosives with the shopkeeper or anyone else, and claimed he'd never been to Florida. But he admitted traveling to Pakistan, Italy, San Diego and Afghanistan.

One of Malike's neighbors on 9th Street in Long Island City said he reported Malike's odd behavior to cops soon after 9/11 and early this year.

"There was something wrong with this guy," said the neighbor, Victor Diaz, a 24-year Army veteran.

Diaz said police told him they didn't have enough manpower to respond to his reports. Last night, police couldn't verify that Diaz had gone to them.

Diaz and other neighbors said Malike had Muslim-looking visitors who in the middle of the night moved luggage from his apartment into vans.

A neighborhood teen said when he angered Malike by calling him "Saddam Hussein," the suspect chillingly replied: "My day is coming, no worries."

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/76393.htm

[nutmeg]

My question is this: how hard would be for a Middle Eastern cab driver to turn his cab into a car bomb? I mean, when you think of the number of Arab cab drivers in NYC, DC, etc., wouldn't this be the perfect cover for them? Cabs go everywhere in major cities...

Yikes...

[kcvl]

Mr. Malike, 43 years old and a native of Afghanistan, is charged with drug possession and making false statements, but his alleged interest in substances more dangerous than sedatives has piqued the government's curiosity.

Malike, who lives in Astoria, Queens, was granted asylum to live in the U.S. several years ago, after claiming he fled his homeland to escape the Taliban. His wife lives in Pakistan.

Activity at apartment

Neighbors complained he brought a string of women to his apartment and was always unloading computers and luggage. He recently returned from a trip to Pakistan, they said.

"I was joking and asked him if he was a terrorist, and he said, 'Yeah,' with a serious face," said neighbor David Lee, 16. "But I didn't believe him because he was a nice guy."

Ricky Garcia, 16, said he jokingly called the suspect Saddam Hussein one day. "He flipped out. He wanted to fight me, and he kept on saying, 'I'm not Saddam Hussein.' He was really angry and he said, 'Your day is coming soon.'"

Malike has been under surveillance since March, when he went to a computer store and asked for bomb-making instructions, authorities said.

The store owner contacted the FBI, which tailed him three days later when he took a train to Miami.

After Malike returned to New York on April 1, he went back to the computer store to ask about the bomb instructions again, authorities said.

The merchant agreed to introduce Malike to a go-between - in reality, an undercover FBI agent wearing a wire.

Agents rigged 16 packets to look like C-4 in a wood crate for the next meeting April 18. But the sale fell through when Malike said he didn't have the money, the FBI said.

At their final meeting Tuesday, Malike paid $150 for the pills and was arrested.

Three years ago, Malike sued the Port Authority, claiming his civil rights were violated by a cop at the 42nd St. bus terminal, a PA source said. He lost the case.


http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/85859p-78346c.html

[csvset]

Bridges & bombs bump

[rintense]

Exactly. Imagine 2-3 cabs pulling up in front of a major building in NYC, LA, etc... horrific results. You also see a lot of cabs in front of sporting events on the East Coast...

[Walkingfeather]

How bout 6 years in the same cell block with a bunch of vietnam vet hells angels.... now how long does that 6 years seem??

[nutmeg]

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent ping list.

[epluribus_2]

...don't tell me, Islam again?

[Mears]

If we keep letting them in we'll keep having problems.We will only have ourselves to blame.

[tracer]

The FBI should lighten up. After all, the Fourth of July is just around the corner and Sayed only was planning to demonstrate his patriotism and fondness for his new homeland.....

[tracer]

Word has it that he was planning to blow up the Old Stone Face in NH but couldn't read recent English-language reports of its natural demise. Seems he was a rocket scientist in his native Afghanistan........

[knuthom]

he went to a computer store and asked for bomb-making instructions, authorities said.

Why would he go to a computer store to ask for bomb-making instructions? That doesn't make any sense.

[bvw]

If the guy is a strung out heroin addict, it does. Think of a arabic De Niro in "Taxi Driver".

[Tunehead54]

Why would he go to a computer store to ask for bomb-making instructions? That doesn't make any sense.

---

Guy seems to be dumb as a box of rocks - with all the PCs he had available he could have gotten a free AOL account and found all the bombmaking info he'd need in a day and a half. Weird.

[Joe Hadenuf]

As thousands of taxi drivers from Mid Eastern countries circle airports in their cabs in almost every major city in America........Tick Tick Tick.....

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

[The FBI (search) arrested a New York cab driver after he allegedly tried to buy enough explosives "to blow up a mountain," scoped out bridges in Miami and lied to agents about his activities.]

Another candidate for the full rectal exam.

[L_Von_Mises]

As thousands of taxi drivers from Mid Eastern countries circle airports in their cabs in almost every major city in America........Tick Tick Tick.....

I was in Chicago last year for a month and had to ride in cabs everyday. Every cab driver was from the Middle East and each made a point of how Bush, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft were the devil. They all complained about how evil American policies were yet they choose to live here. Makes one wonder why. If I was not there on business I would have had plenty of choice words for these, ahem, people.

Also, as cabbies they can pick up a lot of gossip about events (read potential targets) and get a good feel for the security at all these events as they hover around them waiting for fares. Plus, with all the cabs, they just blend in.

I did not see any of this as favorable.

[Alberta's Child]

Maybe this is the same cab driver that left Danny Glover standing on a curb a few years back.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Yeah, the FBI must be pissed off, as many of them must be working undercover as cabbies and fares with bogus luggage etc. They must have hired a whole bunch of Mid Eastern types to play the cabbie roles......One has to wonder if they be trusted? I watch these cabbies roll by terminals with 500 people standing around, just waiting........

[Travis McGee]

Mohammed Atta was a "moderate muslim," right up until 9-10.

[Principled]

Exactly.

[browardchad]

Why would he go to a computer store to ask for bomb-making instructions? That doesn't make any sense.

More likely it was Radio Shack or another electronic components dealer and since some reporters are dumb as dirt, this translated into "computer store."

[We Happy Few]

"Looks like we need to add cabs in with tanker trucks, rental trucks, bicycle, etc on the TSA/GPS tracking list. We need to put a police officer in or on every conveyance. Track all that deviate from their filed path."

Don't forget the tourist buses. It is routine for them to go to tourist attractions, monuments, theme parks, etc.

[wimpycat]

The investigation of Malike, a legal U.S. resident from Afghanistan, began in March when a store owner in Queens reported that the defendant was seeking information on how to make a bomb.

Thanks to a "narc", a "snoop", a "spy", a "busybody" who tipped off the authorities, a terrorist strike may very well have been averted.

[Conspiracy Guy]

And skateboards, horses, cows, dogs, rollerblades, go carts, and wheelborrows.

[RansomOttawa]

Why would he go to a computer store to ask for bomb-making instructions? That doesn't make any sense.

Maybe he was looking for an Internet feed.

[Tunehead54]

You're likely right but my point was that in post 9-11-01 America the guy asking for "bomb-making instructions" at a public store of any description must be as noted "dumb as a box of rocks". ;-)

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[Black Agnes]

Hey, looks like all of us who suspected this very thing were CORRECT! Now, what about all the little scab van drivers that go through the tunnels and over the bridges? The ones I've ridden on were all driven by ME types. You could put a lot of explosives on a minibus if you wanted...

[Bigg Red]

If we keep letting them in we'll keep having problems.We will only have ourselves to blame.

---

Exactly!

[Bigg Red]

Yikes, indeed!

[Black Agnes]

Thanks to a "narc", a "snoop", a "spy", a "busybody" who tipped off the authorities, a terrorist strike may very well have been averted.

You forgot racist!

[NYC GOP Chick]

OK, now this is officially freaking me out. :(

[Kenny Bunk]

The Worthy Oriental Gentleman's travels are quite interesting and quite extensive. Wonder who picked up the tab. Wonder who let him through all those airports.

Hats off to the NYPD. The feds got one guy, the New Yorkers let a whole cell escape.

[Husker24]

when he went to a computer store and asked for bomb-making instructions, authorities said.

what a dumbass, like that wouldn't raise any suspicions.

[Husker24]

What I dont understand is how you can drop a guy thats lived in Afganistan all his life into a City as large as New York and expect him to know where hes going, how do you even start something like that.

[L_Von_Mises]

What I dont understand is how you can drop a guy thats lived in Afganistan all his life into a City as large as New York and expect him to know where hes going, how do you even start something like that.

They had a special on one of the networks a while back on NYC cabbies. At that time they were all from Russia. They put them all on a tour bus and drove them around Manhattan showing them the important spots. They spoke little if any English. They asked one guy how long he had been driving. he said "today." The interviewer at first though he was asking if he meant did he drive today or some such thing, so he asked again. The guy responds "one day." Now the interviewer thinks he means just in New York. It turns out that the guy never drove any type of vehicle before that day and probably the next day he is driving a cab in NYC.

My guess is that most of the cabbies from the Arab nations are probably even further down the technology chain.

[cmsgop]

Howard Stern and Artie Lang were talking about this today. It was soooo funny!

[We Happy Few]

"And skateboards, horses, cows, dogs, rollerblades, go carts, and wheelborrows."

Have you ever seen an exploding cow? Not a pretty sight.