Feds Seize Rocket Launcher In N.J.
AT-4 Launcher Found On Jersey City Lawn
Scott Weinberger
Reporting
(CBS) JERSEY CITY A Jersey City woman made a shocking discovery on her lawn this morning when she noticed a military rocket launcher lying in the grass.
Niranjana Besai was leaving her house, located at 88 Nelson Street, to go to work just after 8 this morning when she spotted the launcher on her front lawn. "I read it and it [said] 'missile,'" Besai told CBS 2 HD. "There was little 'missile' [writing] on it."
She immediately called police.
Sources tell CBS 2 HD that the device is an AT-4 missile launcher that is used to fire against tanks and buildings. The device was first approved by the U.S. Army in 1985 and questions are being raised as to whether the device was stolen from a branch of the military.
Its very powerful warheads can penetrate through well over a foot of armor.
What's more troubling, sources add, is that Besai's house is located along flight path for Newark Liberty International Airport.
Besai's neighbor, Joe Quinn, saw her pointing at the device from her front porch. When he walked over to see what the fuss was about, he was just as shocked to see weapon, said to be about three or four feet long and weighing about 15 pounds.
"She's pointing that there's something in the front," he told CBS 2 HD. "I said, 'Let me come down and take a look,' and I saw a little soldier on it and I said, 'Whoa, that's a missile launcher or something!'"
Quinn says he originally thought the launcher was just a pipe, but after noticing the picture of the soldier -- which he described as a soldier kneeling, holding the launcher -- he realized it looked similar to a missile launcher he'd seen on television. "I got scared myself," he says. "It looked like a bazooka, and right away you think what does somebody want with something like that?"
Digg This Story!
Jersey City Police removed the launcher, and the incident is now being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI.
