Informant says New York police paid him to ‘bait’ Muslims

This handout photo provided by Jamill Noorata, taken on May 3, 2012, shows Shamiur Rahman, left, sitting with Siraj Wahhaj at John Jay Community College in New York. Rahman was a paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit.

A paid informant for the New York Police Department says he was under orders to “bait” Muslims into saying bad things.

The U.S. citizen of Bengali descent says he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending Islamic study groups.

Shamiur Rahman, 19, tells The Associated Press that he regrets his work, which paid up to $1,000 a month. He says he spied on student groups and mosques. He showed the AP weeks of text messages and photographs with his NYPD contacts.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne didn’t immediately return a request for comment. Mr. Browne has denied widespread police monitoring of mosques and student groups, saying the NYPD only follows leads.

Mr. Rahman, however, says he spied on “everything and anyone.”