NEW YORK—A man who identified himself as a 1993 World Trade Center bombing conspirator and threatened to “blow up” the Statue of Liberty in April, forcing the evacuation of Liberty Island, has been arrested, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
Jason Paul Smith, who said in a 911 call he was Abdul Yasin, was arrested in Lubbock, Texas, where he’s charged with conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes, authorities said.
Smith, of Harts, West Virginia, said he was Yasin, the only conspirator not to be captured in the 1993 bombing, and was an “ISIS terrorist” when he called 911 from his iPad to say “that ‘we’ were preparing to ‘blow up’ the Statue of Liberty,” FBI special agent Alexander Hirst wrote in a complaint filed in federal court in New York.
Smith, 42, could face up to five years in prison if convicted. A federal public defender hasn’t returned a request seeking comment on the case.
