The brothers wanted the sister to marry to a doctor
not to a NRI who has blue collar job at gas station
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Brothers arrested after making false terror threat
Call airport in effort to stop sister from getting
married
BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
newsday.com.
STAFF WRITER
February 18, 2006
It's the stuff of Bollywood films: Woman from a
traditional Indian family tries to escape an arranged
marriage to a doctor and buys a one-way plane ticket
to marry her true love.
Thickening the plot, her two younger, protective
brothers call in a fake terrorist threat to the
airport she's departing from in an attempt to keep
her and her lover apart.
Suffolk police on Friday said the reality of the
drama was that the brothers ended up getting arrested,
charged with third-degree filing a false report,
a misdemeanor. Their sister eventually left New
York and married the man her brothers apparently
didn't deem worthy -- a gas station owner originally
from India, said Insp. James Burke, commander of
the organized crime bureau, which investigates terrorist
activities.
On Thursday night, police arrested Amandeep Singh,
24, and Gurpreet Singh, 26, both of 149-07 85th
Rd., Briarwood, after police determined they called
Long Island MacArthur Airport at about 2 a.m. on
Jan. 17, claiming there would be a terrorist attack
the next day.
Authorities soon realized the threat was bogus
and no flights were affected, Burke said. On Jan.
17 and 18, there were more police at the Ronkonkoma
airport, as a precaution.
Police traced the call to a pay phone at a Long
Island City gas station on Van Dam Street and interviewed
employees of surrounding businesses. Investigators,
trying to determine who made the fake threat, viewed
surveillance tapes and scoured passenger lists of
those flying from MacArthur that day.
That's how they noticed Singh's sister, 30, and
a companion purchased one-way tickets to Atlanta,
Burke said, declining to identify either of them.
Burke said the Singh brothers told police they
wanted to stop their sister from leaving New York
with her lover and wanted to ensure she went through
with the arranged marriage to a doctor in India.
Amandeep Singh, who, police said, made the phone
call, is a financial analyst in Manhattan, and Gurpreet
Singh is a medical student in Brooklyn. They have
no ties to any terrorist groups, Burke said.
A man who answered the phone at the Singh home
Friday declined to comment.
Burke said the sister ended up canceling her flight
that day because she learned her brothers were on
to her plan. But she went through with the forbidden
wedding.
The Singhs were released after getting tickets
to appear in district court for arraignment on April
10. Burke said the FBI has been notified about the
case.
Minus the dancing and costumes of Bollywood, the
sister seemed to have her happy ending -- police
said she is happily married and living in Arkansas.
