Washington Diary
Times Square Botched Bomb Suspect – A Shady Profile Revealed

Faisal Shahzad with wife Huma Mian.

The case of Faisal Shahzad's bomb plot which could have killed hundreds in the busy Times Square area has brought to fore profile a 30 year old educated Muslim, whose mind blatantly brewed hatred against the US though his character consciously hid that. His entire story is a study in understanding the deeprooted abhorrence of the Western world, which is fanned by the extremist organizations like Pakistani Taliban.

Born in Pakistan, Shahzad is son of a former top Pakistani air force officer and deputy director general of the civil aviation authority. He attended primary school in Saudi Arabia, documents found outside his foreclosed home in Shelton showed.

He went on to several schools in Pakistan before scoring a U.S. student visa in the late 1990s. His first stop in the U.S. was the nation's capital, where he studied marketing at the now-shuttered Southeastern University from 1997 to 1998, according to the documents.

His grades were lackluster. Transcripts show Shahzad received several C's and D's, and even an F in a basic statistics class.

Shahzad transferred to the University of Bridgeport in 1998. On his application, he wrote that he had won several Ping-Pong tournaments and also excelled at squash and tennis.

He studied computers at Bridgeport and graduated in 2000 with a degree in computer applications and information systems.

Shahzad was granted a H1-B visa for skilled workers in 2001. Shahzad returned to the University of Bridgeport to study business and graduated with an M.B.A. in 2005.

On the surface, he appeared to be living a typical American life in suburban Connecticut. He was handsome and well-dressed. His pretty 28- year-old wife, Huma Mian, adored him.

For most of the dozen or so years the Pakistanborn Shahzad lived in the U.S., he didn't make much of an impression on the teachers, neighbors and others who came into his orbit. But, some of Shahzad's neighbors in Bridgeport started growing suspicious. He kept odd hours and seemed nervous, they said.

By that time, he had run into financial woes: banks were foreclosing on his house and he was being sued by an energy company. Investigators were still piecing together how Shahzad transformed from an American-schooled family man into a would-be terror bomber.

The Times Square bomb suspect claimed during his lengthy interrogation that he received financial support from the Pakistani Taliban for his failed one-man operation.

Investigators believe funding for Faisal Shahzad in the United States was channeled through an underground money transfer network known as "hawala," the officials said. But, one official told The Associated Press, "there's a belief that no one in the U.S. who got him the funds was aware of what they were for."

The Pakistani-American was the only person in the United States who was "operational" in the plot to attack Times Square with a crude gasolineand- propane car bomb on May 1. The bomb did not explode and no one was hurt.

The attempted attack set off a massive probe involving hundreds of federal agents in several cities. Nearly three weeks later, investigators have so far concluded that once he was funded, Shahzad acted alone.

Three men were arrested last week in New England on immigration charges as authorities followed the money trail. Authorities said they were suspected of providing money for Shahzad; a prosecutor said one had Shahzad's cell phone number and his first name written on an envelope in his apartment.

All have denied knowing anything about the plot. The investigation's main asset has been Shahzad. After he waived his right to an initial court appearance and agreed to cooperate after his May 3 arrest, a special interrogation team of FBI, CIA and Defense Department investigators was brought in to grill him in a Brooklyn hotel room, an official said.

The team was there to "build his trust," the official said. "But he was never really worried about talking. It was clear from the start, he wanted to." Shahzad told investigators he was "supported" by the Pakistani Taliban, which initially claimed responsibility for the bombing in three separate videos, then later denied any role.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier this month of the Taliban: "We know that they helped facilitate it; we know that they helped direct it. And I suspect that we are going to come up with evidence which shows that they helped to finance it."

Authorities say that in the weeks before he drove a car bomb into Times Square, Shahzad plunked down $1,300 in hundred-dollar bills for the SUV and bought a gun for about $400. They say he later paid cash for a plane ticket the day he tried to flee the country.

For Shahzad, the underground series of cash transfers in the U.S. "was like his Western Union," an official said. An official called the funding for Shahzad's plot "very haphazard," with some money being transfe

rred and some delivered. Officials have been investigating financing by the Taliban and in Pakistan, where prosecutors say Shahzad told authorities he received explosives training in the group's stronghold close to the Afghan border.

Pakistan says it is cooperating with the probe but has released little information about its findings. Six people have been detained in Pakistan since the May 1 botched attack, including the owner of a catering service.

Shahzad, 30, left the bomb-laden SUV on West 45th Street on a spring Saturday evening amid hundreds of people enjoying the tourist haven, prosecutors said. Agents caught the suspect two days on a Dubai-bound flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

He has been charged with attempting to conduct an act of terrorism transcending national borders, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, use of a destructive device during the commission of another crime and having explosives.

Authorities had placed him on the "no-fly" list several hours before he was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

During a search of his home in Connecticut, FBI officials and other authorities have been able to glean additional evidence which has not yet been revealed. When he was arraigned, he was "cooperative" and gave the information to officials and was then read his Miranda Rights.

While on the flight, he was identified by the Department of Homeland Security's United States Customs and Border Protection, according to a joint statement issued by the office of Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the FBI, and the NYPD.

Faisal Shahzad only recently became a naturalized American citizen, passing all the criminal and national security background checks, according to officials.

Shahzad told authorities that he acted alone but could have possibly had support from groups overseas. He had stayed for five months in a recent a trip to Pakistan.

The 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, which was reportedly purchased for $1,300 via Craigslist.org, was left in Times Square on Saturday night with several canisters of gasoline, fertilizer, propane gas tanks and fireworks.

Two street vendors noticed the suspicious vehicle and tipped off authorities, which led to the dismantling of the explosive device.

Pakistani counter terrorism agents retracing the footsteps of accused Times Square car bomber Faisal Shahzad have confirmed his claim he was trained by militants in tribal areas near Afghanistan.

"Shahzad did go to the people who are operating in those areas. He did have some contact with them," a senior Pakistani military officer told The News Sunday.

Shahzad was in cahoots with the Tehrek-e- Taliban - the umbrella organization for extremists in the country - but it "has yet to be established" which specific group taught him bomb-making, said the officer, who has access to sensitive intelligence briefings. Within the Pakistani Taliban are diverse groups with different targets, such as Kashmir, India and Afghanistan. Five suspects are under arrest for possibly helping Shahzad, the military officer confirmed.

"The [suspects] may have links with Faisal Shahzad," the Pakistani officer said. "We have established some links with the Tehrek-e-Taliban in Pakistan."

[ By Lavanya Garikina ]