Why am I sensing that this whole event is an election year ploy?
Chicago authorities: No 'credible threat' to tower
June 23, 2006
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement
Despite the arrest of seven young men accused of developing an alleged terrorist plot against the Sears Tower, "there never was any credible threat" to the country's tallest building, Chicago authorities said Friday.
The men were arrested in Miami and Atlanta Thursday. Federal authorities said the men sought to work with al-Qaida but ended up conspiring with an informant.
At a news conference at Chicago's emergency operations center, authorities with the city and Sears Tower sought to reassure residents that the building and city were secure.
Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline said while the federal investigation is ongoing, there have been no arrests in Chicago, no search warrants executed in the city, and no explosives found here. The city's threat level has not been raised.
Chicago authorities said the plot never got beyond the talking phase, and they said the Sears Tower has a strong security system in place.
"From our investigation here, helping Miami, there never was any credible threat to the Sears Tower at all," Cline said.
One of the men arrested in the alleged plot did have a Chicago connection, authorities said.
In the federal indictment handed up Thursday, detailed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in Washington, Narseal Batiste is identified as having recruited and trained others beginning in November 2005 "for a mission to wage war against the United States government."
Batiste was arrested in 1993 in Chicago on a misdemeanor charge of criminal damage to property, Cline said. But that's the only record Chicago police have of Batiste, and none of the other suspects are known to have Chicago ties, Cline said.
John Huston, executive vice president of the Sears Tower, said it was "business as usual" at the building Friday and that attendance was good at the skydeck on the 103rd floor.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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