Main | Friday, April 30, 2010

Cyanide Terrorism Scare In NYC Subway

Lower Manhattan went on a terrorism alert this morning after a man dressed as a track worker was found in a subway tunnel carrying a quart of cyanide pellets and bottles of water. According to the NYPD, the man is a local college student who claims he planned to commit suicide deep in the tunnels so his body would not be found.
The 20-year-old Pace University sophomore told police he wanted to find a discreet alcove, mix the cyanide pellets with water and ingest it. "He did not want to be found," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD's top spokesman. "He had no ID on him. He was looking for some isolated place in the system." The pellets, commercially sold and typically used as a pesticide or to clean jewelry, can create toxic fumes when heated. The suspect did have five flares in his backpack -- along with two liters of water and a quart can of cyanide - but police said the flares could not produce the heat needed to cause any damage. "This was not a terrorist plot," Browne said. "We believe it was part of a plan for an individual to kill himself alone."
The student, a political science major, was interviewed by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and remains in custody as Homeland Security and the FBI search his dorm.

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