MARKET WATCH COLUMNIST
“A Terrifying Beauty,” Ellis Henican Column, amNew York, September 24, 2009
Told you they had some scary stuff in those beauty supply stores.
Hair dyes, face creams — weapons of mass destruction!
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh had his ag-store farm fertilizer and his 55-gallon drums. Now, if the NYPD and FBI can be believed, alleged terror plotter Najibullah Zazi was brewing his own deadly boom-boom with large quantities of hydrogen peroxide or acetone — purchased off the shelves of local beauty supply stores.
Products made for beauty, turned ugly indeed.
Was Zazi a very busy cosmetologist — or a very explosive guy? Either way, shopping for shampoo at the neighborhood beauty supply store never will be the same.
The experts explained: Hydrogen peroxide and acetone are good for removing nail polish — and just as good for making things blow up.
Who is this guy? As Zazi was arraigned Thursday at the federal courthouse in Denver, he didn’t seem like the sort of man who’d indulge in frequent manicures.
Fussy wasn’t the word to describe him. Vacant was.
And yet, in the past two weeks, court documents said, he diligently prowled beauty supply stores in Denver. Friends from New York came out to help. He might have even done some shopping here during a recent visit to Queens.
Authorities said he put out an “urgent” plea for his own Terry Nichols, the man who taught Oklahoma’s McVeigh how to turn legal chemicals into deadly homemade bombs.
This may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.
The 24-year-old airport shuttle driver, who allegedly received al-Qaida weapons training in Pakistan and visited New York last month, now has been charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. His lying-to-investigator arrest last week in Denver set off raids in several suspected terror spots — and national warnings about attacks on transit systems, sports stadiums and entertainment halls.
Attorney General Eric Holder tried to keep things calm Thursday, saying, “We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted.” Give the AG points for trying.
But who could ever walk past another beauty supply store without a furtive glance inside?
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