New York Bomb Plot Suspects to Appear in Court
By VOA News
21 May 2009
Four men arrested in an alleged plot to blow up a synagogue, a Jewish community center, and U.S. warplanes are expected to appear in federal court Thursday in White Plains, New York.
Federal prosecutors say New York City authorities arrested the men Wednesday, following a year-long undercover operation. In a statement Wednesday, prosecutors say the suspects tried to buy plastic explosives from an undercover FBI informant to use in an attack on a New York synagogue.
They are also accused of trying to obtain surface-to-air missiles to attack military planes at an Air National Guard Base near New York City.
Federal prosecutors say the four men have been charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. They have also been charged with conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles.
Officials say three of the defendants are U.S. citizens and one is of Haitian descent.
Authorities say one suspect, James Cromitie, told an informant that his parents once lived in Afghanistan and that he was angry about the killings of Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan by U.S. military forces.
The other three suspects are David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen.
A local newspaper, the Times Herald-Record, says an area mosque leader has described one of the men, 21-year-old Payen, as a "strange kid" with "a lot of psychological problems." The newspaper quotes mosque leader Hamin Rashada as saying Payen would occasionally attend services and that his statements on Islam often had to be corrected.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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