Commuters face searches on Big Apple Subways after threat

Associated Press | October 10, 2005

NEW YORK Words of wisdom for New York City straphangers today: travel light.
City officials have stepped up mass transit security after receiving a threat that the subway may be the target of a bombing in the coming days. But Homeland Security officials in Washington are downplaying the threat's credibility.

New York City police officers are looking through commuters' strollers, large bags, brief cases and luggage. And New York Governor George Pataki (puh-TAK'-kee) says the state is sending hundreds of National Guard troops to help.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference yesterday it's the most specific terrorist threat officials have received. But a counterterror official who's been briefed about the threat by Homeland Security authorities says it's considered doubtful. He says it involved the kind of information you can get on the Internet or from a New York City map.

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