A law enforcement official says a suspect in last weekend’s failed car bomb attack on Times Square has been taken into custody while trying to leave the country.
Police have confirmed an arrest, but have not released a name, related to the attempted car bombing in Times Square on Saturday. Police and federal agents believed the man was of Pakastani descent and suspected that he did not act on his own. News sources are reporting the suspect’s name is Faisal Shahzad, who was on board a Dubai-bound Emirates flight at Kennedy Airport when FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives took him into custody.
An investigation intensified in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania prior to his arrest.
The vehicle’s previous owner recalled selling it to someone who was either Arabic or Latino. Officials are not commenting on reports that the car sale took place via Craiglist at a Connecticut shopping center.
The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the Pathfinder on the dashboard had been removed, but a number was discovered on the engine block and axle that had not been removed and the background of the vehicle was being traced. The license plates were stolen off of a vehicle that was registered to a Ford pickup truck that was in a junkyard. The owner of that truck has been ruled out as a suspect.
Two T-shirt vendors alerted police to a dark green 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was smoking. Rescue crews arrived and discovered inside the vehicle three propane tanks, commercial-grade fireworks, M-88 fireworks, two filled five-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components. A 200-pound gun locker containing about 100 pounds of fertilizer was also discovered in the back of the Nissan Pathfinder.
Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. resisted labeling the attempt a “terrorist incident.”
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