FAISAL SHAHZAD, a Pakistani-born US citizen, was charged yesterday afternoon with committing an act of terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Shahzad admitted involvement in the failed car bombing at New York’s Times Square on Saturday night, attorney general Eric Holder told a press conference at the White House.
“It is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in America,” Mr Holder said. Shahzad intended “to murder innocent tourists and theatre-goers”, he added.
The arrest in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi of two men who may have been Shahzad’s accomplices lent a measure of credibility to an earlier claim of responsibility by the Taliban in Pakistan.
New York police commissioner Ray Kelly said 53 hours and 20 minutes passed between the moment Shahzad drove a Nissan Pathfinder stuffed with fireworks, fertiliser and petroleum canisters to the corner of 45th and Broadway, and his arrest.
“New Yorkers can rest a little easier,” Mr Kelly said. It was, he boasted, a performance almost as impressive as the fictional character Jack Bauer in the television series 24.
There have been 11 plots directed at New York since September 11th, 2001, Mr Kelly added.
Shahzad (30) became a naturalised US citizen in April 2009. Three weeks ago, he bought the SUV with $1,800 in cash at a shopping mall.
He removed the vehicle identification number from the car’s dashboard, but an officer found a second number on its engine block early on Sunday, enabling police to trace it to its previous owner in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Data on the memory of the previous owner’s daughter’s mobile phone led investigators to Shahzad, whose name was placed on no-fly lists on Monday.
Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, said customs and border patrol officers tracked outbound flights after the attempted bombing.
By buying a ticket at the last minute, Shahzad was able to board an Emirates flight to Dubai before they were alerted.
A neighbour at Shahzad’s apartment building on Sheridan Street in Bridgeport described him as quiet and said he went jogging at night.
Police found a pistol and ammunition in the Isuzu Trooper he drove to John F Kennedy airport on Sunday night.
They also found 15 bags of green fertiliser in rubbish bins at his apartment and more of the “silver salute” fireworks he had used in the failed car bomb.
As his flight moved out of the gate just after 11.30pm on Monday, Shahzad must have thought he was home free. However customs and border patrol officers spotted his name on the passenger manifest, called the aircraft back to the gate and arrested Shahzad.
Ms Napolitano said that had the aircraft taken off, it would have been ordered to return to New York.
John Brennan, President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism adviser, told the president of Shahzad’s arrest shortly before midnight on Monday.
The officials who elaborated on Shahzad’s arrest at the White House repeatedly thanked the Times Square vendors who alerted police when they heard a popping sound from the SUV and saw smoke coming out of it on Saturday evening.
“It clearly shows the value of the saying, ‘If you see something, say something’,” said Ms Napolitano.
John Pistole, deputy director of the FBI, said the car bomb assembled by Shahzad “does not appear, from our opinion, to be the most sophisticated device”.
For example, the fertiliser used was not of sufficiently high quality to explode. Shahzad nonetheless “clearly had the intention to do harm”.
Under a legal exception, Shahzad was not read his rights before his initial interrogation.
Mr Pistole said he was “co-operative and provided valuable intelligence”.
