The laugh riot has ended for a New York City man accused of impersonating a policeman, frisking people and posting videos of the "thugging" on the Internet.

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Gazi Abura, 21, was arrested Tuesday after a teenage victim of one of the pranks allegedly identified him from a police lineup.

Friends of one of the victims spotted the videos on the YouTube.com site, and the victim then called police, the New York Daily News reported.

The so-called thuggings took place in July 2005 and were uploaded a month later. Two other men also appear as fake officers and they are being sought, police said.

Abura's lawyer told the New York Post his client is innocent and that the young victim was in on the stunt from the start. Abura was being held on $3,500 bail, charged with criminal impersonation, coercion and unlawful imprisonment.