New York bomb suspect Jose Pimentel not a serious terror threat: FBI sources

Via Atlas Shrugs

The FBI did not pursue a case against an alleged al-Qaida sympathiser accused of plotting to blow up police and military personnel because it believed he was mentally unstable and incapable of pulling it off, officials said on Monday.

Investigators from the New York Police Department, which announced the arrest of Dominican-born US citizen Jose Pimentel, 27, at a press conference late on Sunday night, sought to involve the FBI at least twice.

But both times the FBI concluded he wasn't a serious threat, according to officials who spoke to the Associated Press.

Pimentel "didn't have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own," said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The FBI's New York office declined to comment when asked about the case on Monday.

The absence of the FBI from the case was significant because terrorism-related charges are generally prosecuted in federal rather than state court.

Details of the agency's doubts emerged as Pimentel's mother, Carmen Sosa, apologised for her son.

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