SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
This handout photo provided by Jamill Noorata, taken May 3, 2012, shows Shamiur Rahman, left, sitting with Siraj Wahhaj at John Jay Community College in New York. Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bengali descent who has now denounced his work, was a paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit and was under orders to "bait" Muslims into saying bad things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press. (Photo: AP / Courtesy of Jamill Noorata.)
AP Report: 19-year-old Man Paid by NYPD to "Bait" Muslims
Used "create and capture" strategy, investigation reveals
Oct 23, 2012
A 19-year-old American of Bengali descent was paid by the New York Police Department to "bait" Muslims into incriminating themselves, according to a story published Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Shamiur Rahman ""was under orders to 'bait' Muslims into saying incriminating things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam," Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo of the AP report.
Rahman told Goldman and Apuzzo--and they corroborated through arrest records, text messages and photos--that police instructed him to use a "create and capture" strategy which "involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests."
Among his assignments were spying on the head of security at the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn as he delivered a speech; photographing and identifying people at the event and determining who belonged to the Muslim Student Association at John Jay College and who were its leaders; photographing the 27th annual Muslim Day Parade in Manhattan; and recording license plate numbers and cell phone numbers.
Goldman and Apuzzo reported that they corroborated Rahman's account through arrest records, "weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler," and photos Rahman sent to police.
"Former NYPD officials, while not personally familiar with Rahman, said the tactics he described were used by informants," the report states.
After Rahman was arrested in late January for the third time on misdemeanor drug charges, a NYPD officer approached him in a Queens jail and by the next month he was working for the department, the AP reports.
"Rahman said he thought he was doing important work protecting New York City and considered himself a hero," Goldman and Apuzzo report.
He sometimes intentionally misinterpreted statements in order to "please" his handler, Rahman said, noting, "I was trying to get money. I was playing the game."
Rahman no longer works as an informant.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Tuesday, according to the AP, but he has denied widespread NYPD spying, saying police only follow leads.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A 19-year-old American of Bengali descent was paid by the New York Police Department to "bait" Muslims into incriminating themselves, according to a story published Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Shamiur Rahman ""was under orders to 'bait' Muslims into saying incriminating things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam," Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo of the AP report.
Rahman told Goldman and Apuzzo--and they corroborated through arrest records, text messages and photos--that police instructed him to use a "create and capture" strategy which "involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests."
Among his assignments were spying on the head of security at the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn as he delivered a speech; photographing and identifying people at the event and determining who belonged to the Muslim Student Association at John Jay College and who were its leaders; photographing the 27th annual Muslim Day Parade in Manhattan; and recording license plate numbers and cell phone numbers.
Goldman and Apuzzo reported that they corroborated Rahman's account through arrest records, "weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler," and photos Rahman sent to police.
"Former NYPD officials, while not personally familiar with Rahman, said the tactics he described were used by informants," the report states.
After Rahman was arrested in late January for the third time on misdemeanor drug charges, a NYPD officer approached him in a Queens jail and by the next month he was working for the department, the AP reports.
"Rahman said he thought he was doing important work protecting New York City and considered himself a hero," Goldman and Apuzzo report.
He sometimes intentionally misinterpreted statements in order to "please" his handler, Rahman said, noting, "I was trying to get money. I was playing the game."
Rahman no longer works as an informant.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Tuesday, according to the AP, but he has denied widespread NYPD spying, saying police only follow leads.
A 19-year-old American of Bengali descent was paid by the New York Police Department to "bait" Muslims into incriminating themselves, according to a story published Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Shamiur Rahman ""was under orders to 'bait' Muslims into saying incriminating things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam," Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo of the AP report.
Rahman told Goldman and Apuzzo--and they corroborated through arrest records, text messages and photos--that police instructed him to use a "create and capture" strategy which "involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests."
Among his assignments were spying on the head of security at the Masjid At-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn as he delivered a speech; photographing and identifying people at the event and determining who belonged to the Muslim Student Association at John Jay College and who were its leaders; photographing the 27th annual Muslim Day Parade in Manhattan; and recording license plate numbers and cell phone numbers.
Goldman and Apuzzo reported that they corroborated Rahman's account through arrest records, "weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler," and photos Rahman sent to police.
"Former NYPD officials, while not personally familiar with Rahman, said the tactics he described were used by informants," the report states.
After Rahman was arrested in late January for the third time on misdemeanor drug charges, a NYPD officer approached him in a Queens jail and by the next month he was working for the department, the AP reports.
"Rahman said he thought he was doing important work protecting New York City and considered himself a hero," Goldman and Apuzzo report.
He sometimes intentionally misinterpreted statements in order to "please" his handler, Rahman said, noting, "I was trying to get money. I was playing the game."
Rahman no longer works as an informant.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Tuesday, according to the AP, but he has denied widespread NYPD spying, saying police only follow leads.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.