The FBI has conducted a series of raids in the Northeast in connection with the failed May 1 Times Square bomb plot. Search warrants have been executed in Boston, New York, and New Jersey that resulted in the arrest of two individuals on immigration violations.
In an around Boston, FBI agents were seen cordoning off a gas station on Harvard Street, a used car lot in Brookline, and a home in Watertown. Warren T. Bamford, the FBI Special Agent in Charge for Boston, confirmed the searches were related to the failed Times Square car bombing, which was carried out by Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan.
“We can confirm that search warrants have been executed in several locations in the Northeast in connection with the investigation into the attempted Times Square bombing,” Bamford told The Boston Herald. “A number of individuals encountered during the searches were taken into federal custody for alleged immigration violations.”
Bamford also said the searches “are the product of evidence that has been gathered in the investigation subsequent to the attempted Times Square bombing and do not relate to any known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the United States.”
Agents would not comment on whether the information that led agents to these locations is the result of more than a week of interrogation of Faisal Shahzad, who has been in custody since the failed bombing but has yet to appear in court.
Two men of Pakistani descent have been arrested, and one has been identified as Pir Khan, who is facing administration charges for overstaying his visa, not criminal charges. The other man has an order of removal against him, meaning the federal government determined that he had to leave the country.
The businesses being searched in the Boston area share the same owner, Elias Audy, who is listed as the proprietor of Cypress Automart and more than one Mobil gas station in the Boston area. Acquaintances and customers of Audy spoke highly of him, never suspecting him of playing any role in terrorist activities. A social networking site lists his education as Northeastern University and the website for his auto dealership touts the many civic and community awards he has received over the years. Audy’s bio claims Lebanon as his home country before he moved to America at age 19.
FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz emphasized that “there’s no known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the United States.” Law enforcement sources told CNN that the locations may have played a role in facilitating the transfer of money to carry out the failed Times Square attack.
4 Comments
This would be a classic, if the money came from Arabia, Saudi though more likely the UAE.
Meantime, New Yorkers, whose anti-terror budget was slashed by some $50m+ may want to understand better the $ 656m recently remitted to Pak, The Establishment, by The Administration. I suspect the bulk of it is money unsubstantiated and unsupported that has been held back for months, but finally released, naybe with executive override?, after the lovey-dovey strategic dialogue mtgs in Wash DC recently. Its the season of the bromance–this one is Uncle Sam and Uncle Stan (PakiStan).
The Western media hasn’t really picked up on this at all, kosher or not. Its referenced in this article ‘Its Pak-Pak not Af-Pak stupid’
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/97122/World/It's+Pak-Pak+not+Af-Pak+stupid!.html
Also i wonder how the FBI is getting on in interviewing FS’s dad…
I have always wondered how many business that are owned by certain foriegners could have been purchased or funded by terrorist groups. Then they make profits and either send it to whomever within the US or send it back home to “family”. For example I thought I read that either it was the Time Square bomber or some other terrorist caught on US soil that they had entered the country with a large sum of cash (declared) which was legal. How do we know where that money came from and where it is going.
FS came into the country with a large amount of money in 1999 (not 2010) when he started studying here. He’d need that to pay his tuition and bills as a foreign student. There is no evidence of him being radicalized at that point (AFAIK). So that money isn’t particular suspicious to me.
I think the tracing of money for the current attack will either show he brought it with him on his return (you can bring up to $10,000 into the US undeclared) or was provided locally. It’s a useful trail to track but in this case $10K would cover his living expenses for 3 months, SUV, bomb materials and flight out and would minimize his connections. If however he was part of a larger plot then the money could connect it so the investigation I’m sure will follow all the leads they can find.
My guess is that these arrests in the US are only incidental to the real FS story, eg ‘hawala’ money transfers of small amts.
Much more interesting is what goes on in Pakistan and we don’t seem to be hearing much about that.
WashPo carried a story on FS’s father. It is so romanticized, I was almost crying by the end of it
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/13/AR2010051302442.html?hpid=topnews
Then i read that the FBI hadn’t been allowed to meet the dad alone. Pak representatives were there to ensure damage control. They also denied the FBI to meet JuD
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=162783
Also of interest is an article which asserts that the Pak Air force is highly radicalised
http://newsblaze.com/story/20100513143610ramr.nb/topstory.html
Whatever, over 10 days after FS’s arrest, made in little over 2 days, the Pak sleuths still seem to be squirming. One wonders what the FBI are making of it all and hopes that they will keep the bit between their teeth till they really are at the top and bottom of it.