Times Square Bomber Faisal Shahzad Faces Terrorism Charges
US prosecutors yesterday announced that a Pakistani-American arrested in connection with the failed bomb attack in New York's busy Times Square had admitted his involvement in the attack and in receiving bomb-making training in Pakistan.
Prosecutors charged 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad with five counts.
"If successful it could have resulted in a lethal terrorist attack, causing death and destruction in the heart of New York City," said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder of the bomb plot. Shahzad was detained by US officials aboard a plane at John F. Kennedy Airport. Shahzad is alleged to be the man who drove a vehicle crammed with a large, but malfunctioning bomb into Times Square on May 1.
Shahzad was arrested 53 hours after police found detected the bomb in the vehicle. Upon interrogation, Shahzad revealed that he had attended "bomb-making training" in Pakistan's Wazirstan region prior to the attack. Shahzad is yet to appear before a judge and he has not yet entered a plea.
Shahzad faces charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempting to kill people in the US, carrying a destructive device, transporting explosives and attempting to destroy a building. If convicted, Shahzad may get life imprisonment.
"We believe that this suspected terrorist fashioned a bomb from rudimentary ingredients, placed it in a rusty SUV and drove it into Times Square with the intent to kill as many innocent tourists and theatergoers as possible," Holder added.
Shahzad arrived in the United States from Pakistan on February 3. Shahzad had worked for about three years as a junior financial analyst for the Affinion Group. The company said that Shahzad had quit in June 2009.
