Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

BROOKLYN BOMBING PLOT • 91seeking to bomb aircraft. During the trial the prosecution did notpresent evidence of involvement by al Qa’eda.This bomb plot recalled the 1995 “Oplan Bojinka” of al Qa’edaoperative Ramzi Yousef, who was collaborating with the AbuSayyaf Group to bomb 10 U.S. airliners en route from the Philippinesto the United States. In particular the plans had in common theelements of simultaneous multiple attacks, the targeting of airplanes,and the use of bomb-making materials being smuggled aboard andassembled in flight.The exposure of this plot led to temporary cancellations of Britain-U.S. flights, to a heightened aviation security alert, and to newTransportation Security Administration regulations forbidding carryonliquids or gels, excepting prepared infant formulas. British Airlinesalone claimed to have suffered £40 million in losses due tocanceled flights and an additional £100 million due to costs imposedby the new baggage-handling requirements.BROOKLYN BOMBING PLOT. Acting on a tip from an Arabicspeakinginformant, on 31 July 1997 New York police raided aBrooklyn apartment, shooting two men before either of them coulddetonate several pipe bombs amid other bomb-making materials.Two days before this raid, a note had been mailed to the U.S. Departmentof State warning of a series of attacks unless Sheikh Omar AbdulRahman and Ramzi Ahmad Yousef, along with Sheikh AhmadYassin, a Hamas leader jailed in Israel, were released. At the raidedapartment, police found a draft of the same note.The two men, Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer and Lafi Khalil, had twopipe bombs assembled, made with black powder and loaded withnails as shrapnel; each bomb could have killed targets up to 25 feetaway within an enclosed space. They were apparently planning tobomb the Atlantic Avenue subway station and a commuter bus; thepresence of toggle switches on the bombs and lack of any timer orremote detonating device suggested that the two men were planningsuicide attacks. The two men, both Palestinian, had entered andremained in the United States in violation of immigration law, AbuMezer having falsely claimed Israeli persecution to seek asylum, andKhalil having a bogus alien registration document. Neither man wasfound to have any known connection to Hamas or other Islamic militantgroups. Abu Mezer was convicted of conspiracy to use a weapon