NEW YORK, May 5: Seized from a plane about to fly to the Middle East, a Pakistan-born man admitted training to make bombs at a terrorism camp in his native land before he rigged a sport utility vehicle with a homemade device to explode in Times Square, authorities said Tuesday, reports AP.
Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen who recently spent five months in Pakistan, was arrested on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges for trying to blow up the crude gasoline-and-propane bomb amid tourists and theatergoers Saturday evening, reports AP.
He was in custody after being hauled off a Dubai-bound plane at Kennedy Airport that he had been able to board Monday night despite being placed on the federal "no-fly" list.
Authorities had planned to arrest Shahzad, who had been under constant watch from mid-afternoon, at his Connecticut home, but lost track of him, two people familiar with the probe told The Associated Press. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren''t authorized to talk publicly about the breach in surveillance.
Authorities shed little light on what might have motivated Shahzad - who since moving from Pakistan to Connecticut had acquired a master''s degree in business administration and a house in the suburbs that subsequently was lost to foreclosure. He reportedly came from a background of privilege and wealth - the son of a retired air vice marshal.
A real estate broker who worked with Shahzad in 2004 said the bombing suspect had expressed a dislike for former President George W. Bush and his policy in Iraq.
Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad has been providing valuable information to investigators as they sought to determine the scope of the plot. A court hearing for him was canceled Tuesday in part because of his continuing cooperation.
"Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country," Holder said.
Holder and other U.S. officials did not elaborate on whether they believed any international terrorist group was involved, or whether Shahzad, after his training, was acting on his own. The FBI read Shahzad his constitutional rights after he provided information, and he continued to cooperate, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said.
Shahzad, 30, had been identified as the man who recently purchased the sport utility vehicle in cash and was added to the no-fly list early Monday afternoon as a result of breaking developments in the investigation, according to a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation
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