The upcoming trial of a hook-handed radical cleric — considered a rock star among terrorists — could spark an attack in the city, a top NYPD official warned.
Abu Hamza al-Masri, charged in a 1998 attack on tourists in Yemen that killed four people, will be tried in Manhattan Federal Court this month.
Masri, who claims to have lost both his hands and one eye during an explosion in Afghanistan, is also accused of recruiting and training other terrorists.
Masri “helped radicalize dozens of individuals in both the U.K. and U.S. who went on to engage in terrorist acts,” Rebecca Weiner, director of intelligence analysis for the NYPD, said Tuesday.
“We are attuned to the possibility that his upcoming trial may inspire more” terror, she said. “It is a major priority for us in the next couple of weeks.”
Masri, 55, tried to set up an Al Qaeda training camp in Oregon and preached hate against Americans and the British while at a mosque in London, officials said.
Weiner made the comments about the Egyptian-born imam to a packed room of Jewish leaders at a pre-Passover briefing at police headquarters. She described him as a “star” among bloodthirsty jihadists.
When 29-year-old Michael Adebolajo was arrested for hacking a British soldier to death in London in May 2013, for example, he declared that he wanted to be called Majahid Abu Hamza to honor the one-eyed cleric, Weiner said.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence John Miller said cops were on high alert.
“At this time there is no specific, credible threat,” he said about the trial, which is slated to begin April 14 — just as Jews across the city begin celebrating Passover.
Still, the NYPD is bracing for the possibility of a surprise attack.
With Daniel Beekman
