WASHINGTON, July 7 -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Friday that eight people have been identified to be involved in a plot to blow up tunnels in New York, CNN Television reported.

Cars drive toward the outbound entrance of the Holland Tunnel in New York. [AFP]

"We believe we have what I will call eight principal players and we have them largely identified," Mark Mershon, head of FBI New York Office, was quoted by the report as saying.

Among them, three have been arrested abroad. One of them, a Lebanese man, confessed to be the mastermind of the plot and a disciple of al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, according to him.

Mershon didn't mention the name of the man. Earlier news reports said the man was known as Amir Andalousi, but it could be an alias.

The plot was first reported by the Friday edition of The New York Daily News, which said U.S. authorities have discovered a plot to bomb New York's Holland Tunnel and flood the financial district in lower Manhattan.

The newspaper also said the plot had received a pledge of financial support and assistance from Jordanian associates of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaida's top operative in Iraq who was killed in a U.S. airstrike last month.

Meanwhile, FBI officials said they have no indication of any imminent threat to the New York transportation system or anywhere else in the United States.