Washington, May 14 (Inditop.com) Pakistan has arrested a militant who acted as an accomplice of Faisal Shahzad, the man who tried to bomb Times Square, while three Pakistanis have been arrested in the US for providing money to the Pakistani-American.
The Pakistani suspect, whose arrest had not been previously disclosed, provided an “independent stream” of evidence that the Pakistani Taliban were behind the attempt. He has admitted to helping Shahzad travel into Pakistan’s tribal belt for bomb training, the Washington Post reported Friday citing US officials.
Shahzad was arrested while trying to fly out of New York May 3, two days after he left a vehicle filled with explosive materials in Manhattan’s Times Square.
Fanning out across northeast US, federal agents arrested the three people from Pakistan who are suspected of providing money, possibly by the hawala system, to Shazad.
Two of the Pakistani suspects were picked up Thursday in the Boston area and the third in Maine for immigration violations, officials said.
Federal agents also executed search warrants in connection with the Times Square probe in New York and New Jersey, another media report said.
Washington Post Thursday cited officials familiar with the investigation as cautioning about inconsistencies in the accounts of Shahzad and the Pakistani militant.
The US determination that the Pakistani Taliban directed the attempted attack is based largely on accounts given by the two men, several US officials cited by the daily said.
Authorities have been examining phone records, e-mail and other communication to see whether they contain firmer evidence of links between Shahzad and the Pakistani Taliban.
The suspect in Pakistani custody “is believed to have a connection to the TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan)”, the daily said citing a US intelligence official.
Clues have added to authorities’ understanding of the plot, the official said, but “what is definitely true is that a lot of this comes from the statements of people directly involved”.
In a report from Islamabad, the Post cited Pakistani security officials as saying that they had made no progress in finding concrete or credible evidence linking Shahzad to any Islamic militant activity in Pakistan or suggesting that he had travelled to the northwest and received training from the Pakistani Taliban.
US officials cited by the Post declined to identify the suspect in Pakistan, but said American investigators have had direct access to him, and described him as a facilitator for the Pakistani Taliban.
US investigators have pieced together their understanding of the Times Square plot largely by comparing the man’s accounts with those of Shahzad.
The broad outlines of their stories have been consistent, officials said, describing Shahzad’s arrival in Karachi last year and his travel north to Waziristan for training with elements of the Pakistani Taliban.
But a second US official told the Post there were some “conflicts, disconnects” in their accounts.
These have raised questions about the reliability of the suspects’ information but have not cast significant doubt on the overall understanding of the plot, officials said.
CBS News citing law enforcement sources said that investigators have determined that Shahzad used the informal hawala courier system popular in South Asia and the Middle East and often used by terrorists and criminals to conceal the flow of money without raising red flags.
The news channel said it’s unclear whether Shahzad used the hawala system in part or totally in obtaining financing for the attack, including the purchase of the SUV he allegedly packed with explosive material and parked in Times Square.
Thursday’s raids in the US were multi-pronged, following different “tentacles” of the Shahzad investigation, CNN said citing a federal law enforcement source.
“We are focusing on many different things… where and how he got the money, from whom, who he met with, his friends, associates, where he travelled, phone calls, e-mails,” the source said.
Attorney General Eric Holder said those arrested “are people who are connected to Shahzad – we’re not sure what the connection was.
“There is at least a (basis) to believe that one of the things they did was to provide him with funds, and so we are trying to trace back to see what exactly was the nature of those transactions,” he said.
