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CNN Live Today
Seven Middle Eastern Men Offer Cash For Replica Ambulance
Aired June 20, 2002 - 11:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And as if the first two weren't enough, we have yet another developing breaking story for you this morning. Word that we're getting that some suspicious goings-on with the company that was trying to get rid of an ambulance or a replica ambulance or whatever in New York.
Let's check in now with our Deborah Feyerick, who is tracking down this story for us and hopefully can explain this one. Deb, what's the word?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Leon.
Well it's more of a cautionary tale, really. A little over a week ago, two men described as Middle Eastern walked into Movie Time Cars Incorporated in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. This is a company that rents police cars, ambulances and fire drugs to use in movies and TV shows.
Well an ambulance was outside getting ready for a shoot. One of the owners says that the two Middle Eastern men came in and offered to pay cash for it on the spot. The owner turned them down but did tell them that they could buy ambulance at an auto action. While the two men are described as clean cut, casually dressed, about 5'8, 5'10, one of them is described as having a heavy Arabic accent.
After they left, the owner, realizing that the whole thing was pretty suspicious, jotted down the license plate number and called police. New Jersey police say they have identified one of the men, but they don't say whether he's in custody or whether he has been questioned.
The NYPD was notified about the incident. A spokesman says that bogus ambulances have been used in Israel to transport suicide bombers or to set off secondary explosions once emergency workers are on scene. The NYPD spokesman says police know about this terror tactic and that they've been on alert to this kind of thing since 9/11. The NYPD called the prop rental company several days after the strikes on the World Trade Center, and the company was told to check all of its vehicles and make sure none of them were missing.
New York is already on a higher state of alert than the rest of the country, and police say the new information is not changed that in any way. The FBI and joint terrorist task force are involved looking into this. And if you're wonder, Leon, how difficult it may be to get an ambulance, we had one of our CNN folks go on-line just a short time ago, and believe it or not, you can buy an ambulance there -- Leon.
HARRIS: You're kidding?
FEYERICK: Not at all. Not at all. And what's interesting about this, or what's concerning about this is that right after the 9/11 attacks there was an alert that was put out. There was some warning that perhaps there may be some bogus ambulances who might be staging these attacks.
That intelligence turned out to be wrong. That's one of the reasons that the NYPD has had this on their radar for some time.
HARRIS: Let me ask you something else. Something I heard about auto action and that raising a particular flag in this particular case?
FEYERICK: Well, it's sort of interesting. Some information that's been developed during the course of the whole investigation into terrorist activity is that one car that was impounded during the course of all this had a number of advertisements for auto actions. So it's unclear just now. We're trying to get some confirmation on whether this is sort of the way that some of these guys come and buy cars without sort of any real record of it.
HARRIS: Interesting. Deborah Feyerick, thank you very much. Quick work on that story. Thank you very much and thanks for letting us know about buying an ambulance online.
FEYERICK: Sorry about that.
HARRIS: That's amazing. All right. We'll see you in a bit -- take care.
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