Bomb Thefts, Threats and Arrests Pre-Y2K
Updated 8.10 p.m. ET (0110 GMT) December 29, 1999
By K.S. O'Donoghue
Several arrests and suspicious events involving terrorist threats and the theft of bomb-making materials across the United States have heightened fears and forced officials to take extra precautions before New Year's Eve celebrations.
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The Justice Department, which includes the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, has said there are "no specific threats" against any New Year's Eve events. But the department has also cautioned that nothing can be ruled out as a target of attacks.
The most recent threat was in New Hampshire, where state police said "First Night" celebrations were threatened in a letter to the governor's office on Wednesday. Officials said the handwriting of the threatening letter indicates the letter may have been sent by the same person who placed two bombs in Concord, N.H., last year, dubbed "The Concord Bomber."
The letter didn't say which community would be targeted on New Year's Eve.
Police have contacted all of the New Hampshire communities that are holding celebrations Friday night and letting each community decide if the festivities should continue. Concord has said its celebration will continue as planned.
Earlier on Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell canceled the last remaining event at the Seattle Center — near the futuristic landmark Space Needle — reducing an enormous public gala expected to draw 50,000 people to a fireworks display viewed from a distance. He said a number of issues, including terrorist threats and the "uncertainty" surrounding Jan. 1, 2000, were factors in his decision.
The decision to cancel Seattle's millennium bash came just two weeks after the arrest of an Algerian man for illegally crossing the border into Washington state with what officials termed "bomb-making materials." The materials included timing devices and nitroglycerine. The man, Ahmed Ressam, allegedly has ties to terrorist Osama bin Laden, who is in hiding in Afghanistan. Ressam also booked a hotel room near the Seattle Center, sparking fears an attack was planned for the celebration.
On the eastern side of the border later that week, two foreign nationals were arrested for illegally crossing the border in Vermont. Both allegedly have terrorist ties to an Algerian terrorist group; bomb sniffing dogs signaled the car may have transported explosives at one time.
In New York City's Times Square, perennially a hot-spot for New Year's celebrations, crowd protection plans were revealed Wednesday. Some of the precautions, known as "Archangel" and in the planning stages since 1996, include: Welding shut manhole covers and locking mailboxes near Times Square; placing bomb-sniffing dogs in parking garages near Times Square; and installing cameras and loudspeakers throughout the party site. Also, revelers will be joined by 8,000 uniformed police, 700 undercover police and bomb-sniffing dogs to establish order, control and safety.
New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani balked at Schell's move in Seattle.
"This is New York. If you probably tried to cancel [the celebration], instead of 2 million showing up, 4 million people would."
Explosives Stolen in California and Arizona
Adding to the paranoia are stories of stolen explosives.
About 200 pounds of explosives were stolen from a police bomb squad bunker in Fresno, Calif., authorities announced Wednesday.
The explosives, which included about 125 pounds of dynamite and the military explosive C4 as well as 75 pounds of gunpowder, were taken sometime between Sunday and Monday from a small concrete bunker in a rural area outside Fresno, about 150 miles east of San Francisco.
Officials said the stolen explosives could be enough to blow up a car or small building but noted that both blasting caps and more powerful explosives had been left behind — a sign that the theft may have been committed by amateurs.
"We have a great concern, and we're not going to hide that concern," Fresno Police Chief Ed Winchester told the Fresno Bee newspaper, saying that police were reassessing deployment and security measures ahead of New Year's Eve but the celebration is expected to continue.
Also, in Flagstaff, Ariz., 750 pounds of ammonium nitrate, 225 pounds of dynamite, 6,000 feet of detonation cord and several blasting caps were reported stolen from a rock quarry Dec. 20.
The explosives are normally used for mining, but could be used to make a substantial bomb, like the one which destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, authorities said.
The FBI and ATF are investigating both thefts.
Possible Bombers Arrested
In Washington, Texas, California
One man was arrested and another was wanted in an alleged plot to blow up the police department of Battle Ground, Wash., on New Year's Eve.
Acting on a tip, sheriff's deputies and federal agents Tuesday raided the trailer home of Brandt Lyle Jensen and found two pipe bombs and other bomb-making materials.
The Vancouver Columbian reported that Jensen's home was the site of a July incident in which a 47-year-old blew off one of his hands with a homemade cannon. Authorities did not think the explosives threatening at the time.
A small amount of ammonium nitrate was also found in the home of an American Airlines mechanic in Grapevine, Texas, Monday. Jere Wayne Haney — suspected of white supremacist and anti-government affiliations — was arrested on charges of possessing bomb components, but officials there say they do not suspect he was involved in a terrorist plot.
Earlier this month in Sacramento, Calif., authorities arrested two suspected members of a California militia group who allegedly were part of a plot to blow up a huge propane storage facility.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to federal weapons charges and said through their lawyers they knew nothing about the alleged plot, which officials say was intended to spark a rebellion against the U.S. government.
— FOXNews.com reporter Michael Y. Park, Reuters and AP contributed to this report
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