US bomber once a successful citizen
Source: Agencies |
May 6, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square lived a successful, suburban life in the United States before abandoning his house in Connecticut and returning to Pakistan to get explosives training, authorities say.
Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired official in Pakistan's air force, was charged on Tuesday with trying to detonate crude gasoline and propane inside a parked sport utility vehicle.
He was hauled off a Dubai-bound plane he boarded on Monday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport despite being under surveillance and placed on the federal no-fly list. Passengers disembarking from the flight many hours later said he didn't put up a struggle.
United States Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad had confessed and been providing valuable information to investigators as they sought to determine the scope of the plot to blow up the SUV last Saturday night.
"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.
A court hearing was canceled on Tuesday in part because of Shahzad's continuing cooperation with investigators, but authorities said they had shed little light on what might have motivated him.
Until recently, his life in the US appeared enviable. He had a master's degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, a job as a budget analyst for a marketing firm in Norwalk, Connecticut, two children and a well-educated wife who posted his smiling picture and lovingly called him "my everything" on a social networking website.
But shortly after becoming a US citizen a year ago, he gave up his job, stopped paying his mortgage and told a real estate agent to let the bank take the house because he was returning to Pakistan. He traveled to the lawless Waziristan region and learned bomb making at a terrorist camp.
He returned to the US on February 3, moved into an apartment in a low-rent section of Bridgeport, then set about acquiring materials and an SUV he bought with cash in late April.
The investigation unfolded quickly, with the suspect in custody in only 53 hours - but he almost got away.
After identifying Shahzad through the previous owner of the SUV, investigators lost him while he was under surveillance.
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly played down the slip on the morning TV talk shows yesterday, telling ABC television that "it's not unusual in an investigation" to briefly lose track of the target.
Emirates airlines also didn't initially notice when Shahzad purchased a ticket that he had been placed on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official.
US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano credited customs officials with recognizing Shahzad's name on a passenger manifest and stopping the flight.
Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired official in Pakistan's air force, was charged on Tuesday with trying to detonate crude gasoline and propane inside a parked sport utility vehicle.
He was hauled off a Dubai-bound plane he boarded on Monday night at John F. Kennedy International Airport despite being under surveillance and placed on the federal no-fly list. Passengers disembarking from the flight many hours later said he didn't put up a struggle.
United States Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad had confessed and been providing valuable information to investigators as they sought to determine the scope of the plot to blow up the SUV last Saturday night.
"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.
A court hearing was canceled on Tuesday in part because of Shahzad's continuing cooperation with investigators, but authorities said they had shed little light on what might have motivated him.
Until recently, his life in the US appeared enviable. He had a master's degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, a job as a budget analyst for a marketing firm in Norwalk, Connecticut, two children and a well-educated wife who posted his smiling picture and lovingly called him "my everything" on a social networking website.
But shortly after becoming a US citizen a year ago, he gave up his job, stopped paying his mortgage and told a real estate agent to let the bank take the house because he was returning to Pakistan. He traveled to the lawless Waziristan region and learned bomb making at a terrorist camp.
He returned to the US on February 3, moved into an apartment in a low-rent section of Bridgeport, then set about acquiring materials and an SUV he bought with cash in late April.
The investigation unfolded quickly, with the suspect in custody in only 53 hours - but he almost got away.
After identifying Shahzad through the previous owner of the SUV, investigators lost him while he was under surveillance.
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly played down the slip on the morning TV talk shows yesterday, telling ABC television that "it's not unusual in an investigation" to briefly lose track of the target.
Emirates airlines also didn't initially notice when Shahzad purchased a ticket that he had been placed on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official.
US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano credited customs officials with recognizing Shahzad's name on a passenger manifest and stopping the flight.
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