Dramatic new video released today shows how two alleged Jew-hating jihadists from Queens were taken down by NYPD officers.
In the footage, police swarm the clueless would-be bombers as they allegedly purchased an arsenal for their operation.
Cops cut off any chance of escape before slamming the mayhem-seeking Muslims to the ground and cuffing them. Moments later, the two are hauled into police vehicles and taken away.
They had planned to blow up a major Manhattan synagogue and the Empire State Building, according to authorities.
Ahmed Ferhani, 26, and Mohammed Mamdouh, 20, were charged with terrorism and hate-crime conspiracy after coughing up a $100 down payment for three handguns, ammunition and a grenade for the attacks in a police sting, authorities said.
“Make no mistake about what he wanted to do: get guns, get explosives, blow up synagogues and kill Jews,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said of the North African immigrants, who were busted Wednesday in Midtown.
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“[Ferhani] was committed to violent jihad and his plans became bigger and more violent with each passing week.”
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly reported that Mamdouh said “I hate Jews” and Ferhani added “I want to kill them” when undercover cops first met them seven months ago.
Ferhani, an Algerian native, was “fed up with the way Muslims were being treated around the world” and he told an undercover cop “they’re treating us like dogs,” Kelly said.
Ferhani allegedly told undercover police he planned to disguise himself as a Jewish worshipper by growing a beard and curly hair locks — and would “leave a bomb” at Manhattan’s largest synagogue, a criminal complaint stated. The house of worship was never identified.
Ferhani said they wanted to blow up synagogues “one after another,” Kelly said.
Mamdouh allegedly said, “Hell, yeah, I would love to blow that motherf–ker up,” the complaint charged.
Concerned about surveillance, Ferhani allegedly forbade the undercovers from saying “synagogue” during phone calls.
He also expressed a desire to get his hands on a rifle with a sniper scope, cops said.
The suspects also took a potshot at failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, saying they needed to use cash instead of credit cards for purchases to avoid getting caught like “this dickhead got caught,” the complaint said.
The undercovers moved in once Ferhani expressed “an increasing desire to act,” a source said.
He was hoping to learn how to build more effective bombs and had discussed selling a kilo of heroin to raise money to fund his diabolical plans, according to the source.
And Ferhani once mentioned renting a farmhouse where he and Mamdouh could practice firing weapons and speak freely of their evil plot, the source added.
Shortly before Ferhani was busted Wednesday night as he drove with two undercovers on the West Side Highway at 58th Street, he asked one of them to get him a bulletproof vest and a silencer, sources said.
He was busted there and Mamdouh was nabbed nearby.
The “lone wolf” plotters were both ordered held without bail after arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, where Ferhani repeatedly mouthed the word “innocent” to news photographers in the jury box. The case against them is the first-ever use of state terrorism laws, and both men face potential life sentences if convicted, Vance said.
Federal authorities — who typically prosecute terrorism — declined to take the case because it was a local plot and did not pose a threat to national security.
Both suspects live in East Elmhurst. Mamdouh hails from Morocco and is a US citizen. Ferhani is from Algeria but was under review for possible deportation for not showing up at immigration hearings where he would have been asked about his arrest record.
Ferhani — who is unemployed but once worked as a sales associate at Saks Fifth Avenue — was busted last October on a robbery charge after a woman who invited him to her Midtown hotel room claimed he pulled a gun, tied her up and stole $100 and a debit card, sources said.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and John Doyle