NYPD Informant Says He Was Paid to 'Bait' Muslims Into Arrests

A teenager says he was paid by NYPD to spy on innocent people

After a string of marijuana arrests, Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bengali descent, said the New York Police Department made him an "informant" who would bait Muslims into conversations about jihad or terrorism.

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Rahman told the Associated Press he was under orders from the NYPD's intelligence unit to elicit the responses. He said he would also take pictures inside mosques and collect the names of innocent people attending study groups of Islam.

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He has now denounced his work in the program, called "create and capture." He explained that in the program he would create a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capture the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and a blind eye to his marijuana arrestsfrom the police.

The NYPD had previously denied using the tactic. The AP, however, was able to corroborate Rahman's account through arrest records and weeks of text messages between Rahman and his police handler.

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