Suspicious incidents involving Middle Eastern-looking men trying to infiltrate New Jersey ambulance corps have put New York authorities on alert.
Counterterrorism officials in New York and New Jersey are circulating a two-page memo detailing the efforts of five men who appeared to be on missions to gather information on emergency-response operations.
Authorities fear the men could be part of a plot to load ambulances or firetrucks with explosives or chemicals and breach security barriers at hard targets – or to set up a “secondary incident” after an initial terror strike.
The Aug. 12 memo detailed three incidents. In the most recent one, a man claiming to be a Pakistani doctor attended a Middlesex County, N.J., ambulance squad’s open house.
The man asked questions “related exclusively to the operation of the emergency vehicles, including the speed at which the vehicles responded to calls and the use of lights and sirens,” the memo stated.
“The individual appeared very nervous, did not ask about patient care, and left the premises when asked to complete a membership application.”
In another case, three men were eager to join a volunteer ambulance squad yet showed little interest in saving lives.
“All they wanted to do was drive the apparatus and were not interested in being support personnel providing medical care,” said Thomas LaBelle, executive director of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs, who got the memo.
“We’re concerned there could be a secondary explosive device intentionally set for first responders or [an attempt to] block emergency room doors.”
In a third incident, outside the emergency room at an Essex County hospital, an EMT found a man who appeared to be Middle Eastern taking notes near an ambulance and questioned him.