CLINTON -- A professor of Islamic studies is speaking out following the arrests of three adults and one teen accused of plotting an attack in Islamberg, a hamlet that is less than two hours from Utica in Delaware County.
Professor Omid Safi made a visit to Hamilton College Wednesday to speak about Islam. He also spoke to NewsChannel 2 and gave his thoughts on the arrests.
Professor Safi says this isn’t about one community in particular, but the country as a whole. He says as long as any of us our targeted then no one is safe.
“I was really moved to find out that the reason that this attack was prevented is that one of their fellow classmates, he saw something, he heard something, he said something,” Safi said. “And I think that that’s a responsibility for all of us.”
The three adults arrested were 20-year-old Brian Colaneri, 18-year-old Andrew Crysel and 19-year-old Vincent Vetromile. Each was charged with weapons possession and conspiracy. A 16-year-old student at Odyssey Academy in Greece also was charged as an adolescent offender.
Three of those suspects are being held in the Monroe County jail on bail. According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Crysel is no longer at the Monroe County Jail. Terms of his release are unknown at this time.
Police say the attack on Islamberg was planned over the course of about a month and are calling it a “serious plot”.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is asking the state police to increase patrols in Delaware County. Court papers say the teens had multiple, cylinder-shaped explosive devices and mason jars wrapped in duct tape.
Governor Cuomo released a statement Wednesday saying: “This foiled terror attack is repugnant to everything we stand for in New York. While there are those in Washington who continue to fan the flames of division and islamophobia, such hate has no home in our state. In New York, we stand with the Muslim community and we will hold those behind this thwarted plot responsible to the full extent of the law.”