New York, USA - THE fiery fundamentalist preacher at the centre of the Koran-burning controversy was treated to a massive security detail during a trip to New York.
The emergence of the security protection this week comes as the city is engulfed in budget woes, the New York Post reported.
Sources said a detail of five detectives, each earning at least $100,000 per year, and one who was pulled from his duties on a federal drug task force, were forced to sit for five hours at La Guardia Airport as Pastor Terry Jones waited to fly home to Florida after visiting the site of the proposed Islamic centre near Ground Zero.
At least three members of the security team, who are assigned to the NYPD's Intelligence Division, tailed pastor Jones around the clock during his three-day trip .
"That has become, in our last two visits to New York, pretty normal for us," he said. "We very much appreciate this. We have had over 200 death threats against us."
Pastor Jones also deadpanned that he was worried about loonies in the city who might harbor ill will against him.
"New York City is very much of a hotbed - there are definitely some radical elements there," he said.