As of Friday October 6, 2017, an Isis inspired plot targeted at New York City’s Times Square and subway system was foiled. Three men were charged with this crime which they originally planned to carry out over the summer of 2016. In the spring of 2016, Pakistani Talha Haroon, Canadian Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy, and Filipino Russell Salic began their plot to attack.

The men have been documented to say things such as: “NY needs to fall. It’s a must,” “The 2 subway routes we will blow up will be the purple one and the green one,” and “We seriously need a car bomb at times square… Look at these crowds of people!”

One of the men also commented that the subway was the perfect target and the men should gun down as many strangers as possible, including women and children. Then, he exclaimed that once they ran out of bullets, the men should detonate their vests in the subway system. Possibly one of the worst comments recorded was exclaimed by Haroon to an undercover agent working in the field. He stated, “I wanna kill them in thousands. We have to make an ocean out of their blood .. leave no one standing.” This was exclaimed while developing plans to attack Times Square – the crossroads of America.

Ilona Margolin, a sophomore student at Wayne Hills, has been following this recent string of events on the news and is shocked by the mindset of these people, claiming, “complete and utter shock,” as well as blaming these terrorists for the “horrible, unimaginable acts that plague our nation today.”  

However, it wasn’t just all talk.

El Bahnasawy bought a grand amount of bomb-making materials to put to use in the planned attacks and Talha Haroon met with an explosives expert to obtain further information on how to create the maximum amount of damage.

Luckily, the three men were caught. El Bahnasawy was arrested in New Jersey, where he traveled in preparation for the attack. Meanwhile, Haroon was arrested in Pakistan and Salic was arrested in the Philippines. The two men have now awaited extradition to the U.S. and sentencing. The amount of damage that could have resulted from the attack is absolutely catastrophic.