Two men have been arrested after three people emerged from a manhole near the New York City hotel used by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the United Nations General Assembly.

The location was enough to set off an immediate security response. But police say their investigation has found no indication of a plot against Netanyahu or anyone at the U.N.

Officers were called to Park Avenue and East 61st Street before dawn Wednesday after the group climbed out of the underground system and left in two vehicles. The street is a block from the Loews Regency hotel.

A Sunday video report revisits the surveillance account that started the case:

Trending Politics News reported that detectives ultimately identified two Queens men and charged them with criminal trespass. A third person seen leaving the manhole had not been arrested when the report was published Friday.

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The outlet described how investigators traced the vehicles seen leaving Park Avenue using surveillance footage and license-plate information. Detectives also examined earlier police body-camera footage while identifying a suspect, then watched a location connected to one of the cars before making an arrest.

The men’s attorney rejected any link between his client and the Israeli leader or the U.N. gathering. Police said the pattern resembled previous cases in which people entered city drains in search of valuables or scrap metal after storms.

One question was unavoidable: why would anyone enter the underground system so close to a hotel associated with a heavily protected foreign leader? The answer the suspects gave investigators was far less dramatic than the initial security concern.

WABC-TV reported that the two men told detectives they went into the drains looking for valuables washed away by rain. Police said a surveillance camera captured the three people exiting near 535 Park Avenue at about 4:35 a.m.

The station reported that the two arrested men faced trespass and conspiracy charges. Court documents showed both were released without bail: one under supervision and the other on his own recognizance.

Officers and federal agents swept the surrounding area because of the U.N. General Assembly and the proximity to Netanyahu’s hotel. They found nothing suspicious, according to the local report.

The station said police were still seeking others seen at the manhole. The case remains a trespass investigation, with no suspicious item reported in the security sweep.

A Sunday post highlights the explanation the two men gave detectives:

The episode still exposed an obvious security headache. A manhole near a hotel used by a visiting head of government is not a place authorities can simply ignore, even when the final explanation appears mundane.

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The NYPD had already seen similar underground scavenging incidents elsewhere in the city. Its additional sweeps near Park Avenue were a precaution tied to the unusually sensitive setting, not evidence that officers discovered a device or a tunnel plot.

A later video report recapped the arrests and the surveillance account:

Two people now face criminal charges, and police were still looking for at least one other person seen at the manhole. There is no public evidence tying any of them to Netanyahu.

The strange sight on Park Avenue demanded a serious response. The facts uncovered so far point to alleged trespassing and scavenging—not an attack on the Israeli prime minister.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

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