NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The New York Police Department removed a senior leader from one of its two anti-terrorism units, saying it found the unit disrupted a federal terrorism probe.
The federal investigation was disturbed when detectives from the city's Intelligence division sought help from a Muslim iman who alerted the main suspect in the inquiry, The New York Times reported Thursday.
An official with the city's Counterterrorism Bureau was transferred to the Intelligence Division to replace the removed official, who was transferred to another division, police said.
NYPD has not acknowledged any miscues by Intelligence Division detectives trying to seek help from the imam, the Times said.
Federal agents and police detectives have been searching New York and other places in the United States for operatives in a suspected al-Qaida bomb plot. Najibullah Zazi, 24; his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53; and imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, all arrested during the weekend, were charged with making false statements during a terrorism investigation.
