DAWN.COM | World | Army major arrested in New York bomb plot: WP
WASHINGTON: A Pakistani army major has been arrested in connection with the failed bombing earlier this month in New York's Times Square, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
If the report, which quoted Pakistani law enforcement sources, is confirmed it would represent the first time someone in Pakistan's military establishment has been implicated in the botched car bombing plot.
Chief suspect Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born US citizen whose father was a senior official in Pakistan's air force, made his first court appearance on Tuesday in New York and did not enter a plea over the May 1 incident.
Shahzad, 30, was arrested apparently trying to flee the country on a flight to Dubai 53 hours after street vendors alerted police to smoke coming out of the vehicle in New York's theater district on a busy Saturday night.
The Washington Post said the extent of the Pakistani major's alleged involvement remained unclear, but that unnamed law enforcement sources told the paper he had met Shahzad in Islamabad and had cell phone contact with him.
According to the newspaper a second suspect being held by the Pakistani authorities acted as a liaison between Shahzad and the Pakistani Taliban blamed by the US for being behind the attempted Times Square attack.
Pakistani law enforcement sources told the paper Shahzad met the suspect three times last summer and at one meeting gave him an undisclosed sum of money for the attempted bombings. Unnamed US officials told the newspaper the amount was 15,000 dollars.
US officials say Shahzad is connected to Pakistani Taliban insurgents and President Barack Obama sent two senior national security aides this week to Islamabad to join the investigation.
Federal agents last week also arrested three Pakistani men in the northeastern United States and said they were suspected of funneling money to Shahzad. However, they were not charged with terrorism.AFP
WASHINGTON: A Pakistani army major has been arrested in connection with the failed bombing earlier this month in New York's Times Square, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
If the report, which quoted Pakistani law enforcement sources, is confirmed it would represent the first time someone in Pakistan's military establishment has been implicated in the botched car bombing plot.
Chief suspect Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born US citizen whose father was a senior official in Pakistan's air force, made his first court appearance on Tuesday in New York and did not enter a plea over the May 1 incident.
Shahzad, 30, was arrested apparently trying to flee the country on a flight to Dubai 53 hours after street vendors alerted police to smoke coming out of the vehicle in New York's theater district on a busy Saturday night.
The Washington Post said the extent of the Pakistani major's alleged involvement remained unclear, but that unnamed law enforcement sources told the paper he had met Shahzad in Islamabad and had cell phone contact with him.
According to the newspaper a second suspect being held by the Pakistani authorities acted as a liaison between Shahzad and the Pakistani Taliban blamed by the US for being behind the attempted Times Square attack.
Pakistani law enforcement sources told the paper Shahzad met the suspect three times last summer and at one meeting gave him an undisclosed sum of money for the attempted bombings. Unnamed US officials told the newspaper the amount was 15,000 dollars.
US officials say Shahzad is connected to Pakistani Taliban insurgents and President Barack Obama sent two senior national security aides this week to Islamabad to join the investigation.
Federal agents last week also arrested three Pakistani men in the northeastern United States and said they were suspected of funneling money to Shahzad. However, they were not charged with terrorism.AFP
