New York Post

9/11 SHIRT SWIPE

Clueless Cluele thief took toxic WTC clothes

- By SUSAN EDELMEDELM­AN and BRUCE GOLDINGGOL sedelman@nypost.com

A crook who broke bro into a parked SUV unw it tingly unw it tin swiped a shirt covered with wi cancercaus­ing causing asbestos and other toxins unleashed during the destructio­n of the Twin Towers, its owne row said Tuesday. Yehuda Kaploun, Kap 47, wore the garm garment (left) while volunteeri­ng volunt at Ground Zero Zer for two days following follow in the Sept. 11 attacks — and testing arranged by The Post in 2006 revealed reve it was laden with potentiall­y deadly contaminan­ts. cont

Last week, week Kaploun (inset), who now lives in Florida, wasw preparing ing to ship the shirt — which was sealed in plastic — to advocates of federally funded fu compensact­ion tio and health heal insurance ance forf sickened first resp responders. But someone swiped a box containing cont the white, buttondown dress shirt after Kaploun put it in into his 2005 Infiniti SUV, which he left parked outside his North Miami Mi Beach home. Kaploun said he discovered ered the theft on Dec.Dec 16 and reported ported it to the Miami Dade Miam Police Department.

““The thief probably thought it was a Christmas pre present,” Ka ploun told The Post. “It’s a dangerous shirt . . . I hope he seeks medical attention and he gets caught.”

Kaploun, who formerly served as a NYPD and FDNY liaison to the Orthodox Jewish community, said he moved to the Sunshine State in 2006 because he needed a warmer climate to ease breathing problems he blamed on his time at Ground Zero.

He kept the filthy, cottonpoly­esterblend shirt he wore as a grim memento of the search for survivors.

In 2006, Kaploun lent the shirt to The Post, which had it tested at the RJ Lee Group laboratory in Pittsburgh.

The analysis revealed a concentrat­ion of asbestos fibers on the collar that was a stunning 93,000 times higher than the average found in American urban environmen­ts.

MiamiDade cops didn’t return a call for comment.

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