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NYC Tunnel Terror Plot Uncovered
| quote: | CNN) -- U.S. and Lebanese agents have foiled terrorist plans to attack New York's transportation system, U.S. authorities said Friday.
Counterterrorism sources confirmed that a plot to blow up tunnels in lower Manhattan was uncovered several months ago when intelligence about the plan emerged in chat rooms on the Internet.
A Lebanese official told CNN that a man suspected of planning to blow up the Holland Tunnel and a New York bridge is in detention in Beirut.
But there is "no indication of any imminent threat to the New York transportation system or anywhere else in the U.S.," FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said in a statement.
U.S. officials worked closely with Lebanese authorities and other foreign law enforcement and intelligence partners to uncover the terror network, according to a joint statement from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
Authorities are still on the hunt for others suspected of being involved in the plot.
"A significant development in this investigation was the arrest of a key suspect by Lebanese authorities," the statement said.
"This investigation is ongoing."
The statement said law enforcement officials know al Qaeda "continues to have an interest in attacking the United States," but at this time "there is no specific or credible information that al Qaeda is planning an attack on U.S. soil."
The plot was first reported by the New York Daily News on Friday, which is the first anniversary of the London bombings. Four suicide bombers killed 52 people in the London Underground system and on a bus. (Full story)
In its Friday editions, the Daily News reported that the FBI had revealed a plot to bomb New York's Holland Tunnel and flood the financial district in lower Manhattan.
Counterterrorism sources told CNN that the Holland Tunnel -- the southernmost link between New Jersey and Manhattan -- was not mentioned specifically as a target.
However, a Lebanese official said the plot did involve the Holland Tunnel and a New York bridge. It's unlikely that any plan to flood the financial district would work because it is above the level of the Hudson River.
Plot a 'real threat'
Nevertheless, CNN security analyst Pat D'Amuro characterized the plot as "a real threat" that "was in the early stages."
A former high-ranking FBI official, D'Amuro said an FBI-Lebanese investigation "that goes back over a year" first revealed the plan. He said the investigation led to the suspect, and authorities have identified "six or seven others" -- all overseas. He said the plot was in the planning phase, and no "devices had been in place."
Sources identified the man held in Beirut as Amir Andalousi.
But Achraf Rifi, general director of Lebanon's internal security forces, said that name is a pseudonym and his real one is Assam Hamoud.
Rifi said the man was arrested more than a month ago in his Beirut apartment in an operation conducted in coordination with the FBI. The suspect is a professor of computer studies at a private university in Lebanon, and was born in 1975, according to Rifi.
The man was not arrested with anyone else and will be tried in Lebanon on terrorist charges, Rifi said, adding that the suspect cannot be extradited to United States.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said no evidence existed that "in any way anything was done, either purchase of explosives or sending of money" and it "was caught" when investigators discovered "terrorists talking to one another."
"This is one instance where intelligence was on the ball," the New York Democrat said.
No explosives found
Citing sources, the Daily News reported that the plotters sought to drown New York's financial district much as Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans and that they also wanted to strike subways and other tunnels.
The Daily News said, "The plotters wanted to detonate a massive amount of explosives inside the Holland Tunnel to blast a hole that would destroy the tunnel, everyone in it, and send a devastating flood shooting through the streets of lower Manhattan."
The newspaper said, "New York City officials believed the plan could conceivably work with enough explosives placed in the middle of the tunnel, which runs underneath the river bed."
It is unclear how far along the plot had moved -- whether it was in the talking stages or a more advanced operational phase, counterterrorism sources told CNN. No explosives were found.
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Footballs' Comin Home....
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