Man arrested after NYC Penn Station scare
USATODAY July 26, 2005 NEW YORK (AP) - A man was arraigned Monday on charges stemming from a bomb scare that emptied busy Pennsylvania Station and disrupted service on Amtrak, commuter trains and city subways for about an hour. Another bomb scare emptied several buildings in Brooklyn and shut down a subway station, and armed officers halted a sightseeing bus and searched its tourist passengers. The incidents Sunday and Monday came days after a second bombing attack on London's commuter system prompted New York police to start random inspections of subway riders' bags. Authorities in New Jersey began similar searches Monday. Travelers seemed to take the inspections in stride. "I think it's the way the world is today. I think it's pretty standard going forward, unfortunately," Maria Parisi of Brielle, N.J., said Monday as she waited for a train out of Newark's Penn Station into New York City. Raul Claudio, described by prosecutors as having a prior conviction for drug dealing, was arraigned Monday on charges of making terrorist threats and falsely reporting an incident for the bomb scare at Pennsylvania Station. Each count carries a sentence of up to seven years in prison. Bail was set at $15,000. Claudio, 43, was arrested in the station Sunday after he allegedly threw a backpack at an Amtrak agent and said it was a bomb, said Marissa Baldeo, a spokeswoman for NYC Transit. Camouflage-clad soldiers briefly were shouting "Penn Station is closed indefinitely," before they got the all-clear and started letting people back into the station. The service disruption at the vast complex affected Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and the Seventh and Eighth Avenue subway lines. Also Sunday, a double-decker Gray Line tourist bus was evacuated in midtown Manhattan after a bus company supervisor told police that five male passengers with backpacks and "stuffed" pockets had raised her suspicions. Police handcuffed five men and searched about 60 passengers before determining there was no threat. The five men were freed. The jitters continued Monday, when several buildings in downtown Brooklyn were emptied for about two hours after witnesses reported seeing a black canvas attache case next to a fire hydrant. Subway service was halted at one nearby station. Police removed the attache case and said it contained personal belongings. Meanwhile, authorities in New Jersey began searching the bags of bus and train riders. Travelers who refused the searches would not be allowed to ride. About 800,000 passenger trips are recorded every weekday on NJ Transit, with about a half-million on buses, 230,000 on trains, and the rest on light rail. The American Civil Liberties Union said the inspections violate protections against unreasonable searches. Edward Barocas, legal director of the group's New Jersey chapter, said it was too early to determine what, if any, action the group would take. Associated Press writer Jeffrey Gold in Newark, N.J., contributed to this report. _____ Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
