Plot to murder Justin Bieber foiled

LAS CRUCES, N.M., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Audiotape of phone calls made from a New Mexico prison that pertain to a plot to abduct and kill pop singer Justin Bieber were released, police said.

Police said Dana Martin, an inmate in a prison near Las Cruces who is incarcerated for the murder and rape of a 15-year-old girl, devised the murder plot, KOAT-TV in Albuquerque reported Tuesday. It wasn't reported why Martin wanted the 18-year-old Canadian singer dead.

Martin told a former inmate friend, Mark Staake and Staake's nephew, Tanner Ruane, to carry it out the crime, the TV station reported.

"He's going use one of the things you gave him, and then he's going to take care of it. We went and bought the hedge clippers. You're going to give me 5 large [$5,000] for each one I get." Ruane said in a taped conversation with Martin.

Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility officials said "take care of it" means to murder, and the reference to the hedge clippers meant the men planned to use them to castrate Bieber and his bodyguard in New York City.

Martin also allegedly told the other two to suffocate Bieber and his guard with a paisley scarf -- apparently a signature move of Martin's.

"Tie it really tight, and that cuts off all the oxygen, and then tie it in the back again, really tight. That seals the deal," Martin said.

Staake and Ruane were arrested by border patrol agents after they apparently became lost and went into Canada.

The alleged conspirators face multiple charges.