Turner Praises NYPD For Terror Suspect Arrest

The New York Police Department revealed, along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, that another lone wolf terror suspect had been corralled in Manhattan over the weekend, and Forest Hills’ new congressman said he was very pleased by the job the police did.

According to Commissioner Ray Kelly, the department used a combination of surveillance and undercover detective work to arrest Jose Pimentel, an American citizen who police say was a follower of the now-deceased cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

“The NYPD Intelligence Division did outstanding work in tracking this individual and containing the threat he posed to the city,” Bloomberg said Sunday night.

“The NYPD has been keeping track of Jose Pimentel since May of 2009 when he talked about violence, and more intensely in recent weeks as he acted on it,” Kelly said. “We had always planned to take him into custody before he could detonate a fully operational bomb.”

Kelly said the police had intelligence to suggest that Pimentel was planning to build and detonate a bomb, killing civilians and police in New Jersey and New York City.

U.S. Rep. Bob Turner, Forest Hills, who sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security, said he was impressed by the NYPD’s work in bringing Pimentel to justice.

“I think the NYPD again gets a great deal of praise,” Turner said. “Their counterterrorism efforts are extraordinary, I think this could have been a very sad ending, with the killing innocent people in New York.”

Turner said that while it was worthwhile to give New York’s counterterrorism team a pat on the back, the arrest was emblematic of what has become a new reality for city residents over the past decade.

“I’ve mentioned that we are in a long war and this is more evidence of that,” Turner added. “These terrorists are at times organized, sometimes are a lone wolf, but they're all operating from the same playbook.”