| Submit your comments on this article | |||||
| Home Front: WoT | |||||
| More on Faisal Shahzad and his Fizzle | |||||
| 2010-05-05 | |||||
In a federal complaint issued Tuesday, prosecutors accused Shahzad of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to kill U.S. citizens and carrying a destructive device. Shahzad allegedly launched the plot in December 2009,
Authorities tied Shahzad to the SUV after the car's previous owner identified him in a photo lineup. FBI agents also traced a phone number from a prepaid cell phone that was used to communicate with the SUV's seller. That cell phone was used to make calls to a fireworks store in rural Pennsylvania that sells M-88 fireworks, the same sort that were found in the smoldering SUV, officials said. Federal agents arrested Shahzad, 30, on Monday, just before midnight, at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to leave the country on a Dubai-bound flight. The Pakistan-born man is providing useful information to authorities, Attorney General Eric Holder said at a news conference Tuesday. Intelligence and government sources in Pakistan said Shahzad is originally from a small town known as Mohib Banda in the Northwest Frontier Province. Seven of the suspects arrested in Pakistan were detained in the same province. The eighth person was detained in Karachi, where Shahzad's family, including a brother, wife and two small boys, are living, the sources said. No other arrests in the United States are imminent, two law enforcement sources said. Agents were trying to determine whether Shahzad, who has an extensive record of international travel, actually acted on his own, as he told the FBI on Monday night.
Authorities said that "eagle-eyed" customs and border patrol agents had spotted Shahzad's name on the Emirates flight manifest Monday evening, less than a day after he had become a person of interest in the case.
In 2002, Shahzad was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers and got a job as a financial analyst at Affinion, a marketing firm in Norwalk, Conn. He married a U.S. citizen, Huma Asif Mian, and became a citizen himself in April 2009, passing all the necessary criminal and national security background checks. The Shahzads had two children, a boy and a girl, and lived in a house in Shelton, Conn. Affinion officials say he voluntarily left his job in June. The bank later foreclosed on his house, and he moved to an apartment in a working-class neighborhood of Bridgeport. Neighbors say there was no sign of his family living at the apartment. Authorities say Shahzad bought the Nissan Pathfinder on Craigslist three weeks ago from another Connecticut man. He reportedly paid cash for the vehicle and never filed any of the paperwork necessary to register it.
From another NPR article: One man detained in Karachi was identified only as Tauseef and was a friend of Shahzad, according to one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Pakistani intelligence officers insist on anonymity as a matter of policy. Media reports described some of the others detained as relatives of Shahzad. In Washington, Pakistani Embassy spokesman Nadeem Haider Kiani said early indications suggest the bomber was "a disturbed individual." | |||||
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #3 If he took a bomb making class than the teacher's unions have screwed Al Queda. I don't know whether he was pushed through the system, whether his grades were inflated, or whether his instructor was a incompetent or disinterested after receiving tenture. Whatever the reason Faisal's effort fell well below Lex Luthor level. It was like he crammed for the bomb making final but didn't really reatain more than an idea of the basic components needed. You would think that a guy who can buy an SUV off of Craiglist could at least use Wikipedia well enough to concoct a working timer and fuse. Bin Laden needs to get on to the red phone with his headof admissions and maybe investigate the idea of charter schools. The Saudi trustees are not going to tolerate this kind of sophomoric crap. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2010-05-05 20:33 |
| #2 All these jihadists are disturbed. They have "religious-driven and islamic-funded sudden jihad syndrome." Anything that p!sses them off, and that is just about everything, is reason to go jihad. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-05-05 09:51 |
| #1 The spokesman meant to say "disturbed religion", but thought better since he wants to get his GS-15. In Washington, Pakistani Embassy spokesman Nadeem Haider Kiani said early indications suggest the bomber was "a disturbed individual." |
| Posted by: HammerHead 2010-05-05 07:56 |