By Tom Leonard in New York and Ashfaq Yusufzai in Peshawar
Published: 9:40PM BST 04 May 2010
He is understood to be the son of a senior Pakistani air force officer and was educated at military school in Peshawar. An elder brother, a mechanical engineer, works in Canada.
When he came to the US in 1998 on a student visa, immigration officials noted there was "no derogatory information" on him in any database.
He attended Southeastern University in Washington DC but transferred to Bridgeport University, Connecticut, where he got a degree in computer science and engineering. He later got an MBA.
In October 2006 he married Huma Mian, an American citizen, which hastened his naturalisation the following April.
The couple bought a small house in Shelton, a town in Connecticut close to Bridgeport and had two young children, a boy and a girl. Neighbours said they lived there for almost three years together with two of Mrs Shahzad's sisters.
"He was quiet. He would wear all black and jog at night. He said he didn't like the sunlight," said Brenda Thurman, who lived next door.
The family often wore traditional Muslim dress and entertained friends in the back garden at weekends. Mr Shahzad spent a lot of time on the computer.
A few weeks after they left their home last July, telling neighbours they were moving to Missouri, the lender foreclosed on the property.
According to his CV, he likes to work on computers, play sport and "talk to people from different backgrounds".
He worked for a time for a temping agency that supplied accountants as well as in an unknown role at the cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden in 2001
Faisal Shahzad, charged with terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in a botched bombing in New York City's Times Square, was born in June 1979 in the town of Pabbi, located northwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Shahzad is the son of Baharul Haq, a former air force vice-marshal and deputy director general of the civil aviation authority, according to Kifyat Ali, a cousin of the father.
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Shahzad became a US citizen in 2009, shortly before travelling to Pakistan for what he says was a five-month stay to visit his parents, according to US officials.
He is married with two children, and his wife and children are believed to be living in Pakistan, sources told the Associated Press news agency.
Shahzad graduated from the University of Bridgeport in the state of Connecticut with a bachelor's degree in computer applications and information systems in 2000 and later returned to earn a master's in business administration in 2005, the school said.
Shahzad worked for about three years as a junior financial analyst at the Affinion Group, a marketing and consulting business, located in Norwalk, Connecticut. He left the company in June 2009.
Shahzad used to live in a two-storey greyish-brown colonial-style house with a sloping yard in a working-class neighbourhood in Shelton, Connecticut.
Shahzad bought the home for $273,000 and lost it to foreclosure last year.
Frank DelVecchio, a broker trying to sell it for Shahzad, said Shahzad told him to let the bank take the house as he owed too much on it and planned to return to Pakistan.
Faisal Shahzad (Pashto and Urdu: فیصل شہزاد; born June 30, 1979) is a Muslim Pakistani-American being held in police custody in New York City as the prime suspect in the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bomb attempt, to which he has reportedly confessed.
Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the attempt,[6] at 11:45 p.m. EDT on May 3, 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.[7][8]He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport, after boarding Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai.[3][9][10] His final destination had beenIslamabad, Pakistan.
A federal complaint was filed on May 4, alleging that Shahzad committed five terrorism-related crimes, including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.[11] Shahzad waived his constitutional right to a speedy hearing.[3][12][4][7] If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.[3]
Shahzad has reportedly implicated himself in the crimes, and given information to authorities since his arrest, and since receiving Miranda warnings.[7][13] CBS News reported that Shahzad admitted training in bomb-making at a terrorist camp in the Waziristan region of Pakistan.[4] As of May 7, Shahzad was continuing to answer questions and provide intelligence to investigators.[12] Over a dozen people were arrested by Pakistani officials in connection with the plot.
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[edit]Background
Shahzad is a Muslim naturalized U.S. citizen of Pashtun extraction,[14] the youngest of four children, born in Pakistan, reportedly in the village Mohib Banda near Peshawar,[15] though the precise location of his birth has also been reported variously as Karachi, Kashmir, or Pabi (a village in Nowshera District east of Peshwar).[16][17][18] He comes from a wealthy, well-educated family from northwest Pakistan.[3] His father, Baharul Haq, lives in a suburb of Peshawar, and was a senior official in the Pakistan Air Force, holding the rank of Air Vice-Marshal (the equivalent of a two-star general) before leaving the air force in 1992,[3][19] and is also a former deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan.[20][21]
Shahzad attended primary school in Saudi Arabia, according to documents found outside his Shelton home, and then attended several schools in Pakistan.[1]He has an identification card indicating he is a resident of Karachi.[3] Kifayat Ali, a man who said he is a cousin of Shahzad's father, insisted that Shahzad's family had no political affiliations, adding that the arrest appeared as a "conspiracy" and "He was never linked to any political or religious party [in Pakistan]."[22]
Shahzad studied for five semesters in 1997 and 1998 at the now-defunct Southeastern University in Washington, D.C., where he took mostly business classes, and maintained a grade point average of 2.78.[23] In December 1998 he was granted an F-1 student visa.[24] In 1999 he was placed on a US government travel lookout list called the "Traveler Enforcement Compliance System."[25] In 2000 he transferred to the University of Bridgeport.[24] Shahzad's former teachers at the University of Bridgeport said he appeared to be quiet and unremarkable. He received a B.A. in computer science and engineering,[24]with his parents attending his graduation on May 13, 2002.[26] Just before graduation, in April 2002, he was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers.[24] He remained in the U.S. for three years on that visa, earning an M.B.A at the University of Bridgeport in the summer of 2005.[24]
Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst in the accounting department at the Elizabeth Arden cosmetics company in Stamford, Connecticut, while he was still working on his master's degree from January 2002 and until June 15, 2006, when he resigned to work elsewhere.[26]
He bought a condominium in Norwalk, Connecticut, which he sold in May 2004 to computer consultant George LaMonica. LaMonica was interviewed afterward by investigators from the national Joint Terrorism Task Force, regarding details of the transactions and information about Shahzad.[27]
Shahzad was granted a permanent residence status (a "green card") in January 2006.[17] He bought a home in Shelton, Connecticut, just outside Bridgeport in 2006.[26] On October 20, 2008, he reported that he had married Huma Asif Mian, an American citizen.[17][24] On her social networking page, Shahzad's wife lists her languages as English, Pashto, Urdu and French, her religion as Muslim and her political view as "nonpolitical."[22]
From mid-2006 to June 2009, Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst,a position paying an estimated $55,000 to $80,000, for Affinion Group, an affinity marketing and consulting business[28] then located at 100 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut.[26]
He was granted U.S. citizenship on April 17, 2009.[3] A few weeks later, he abruptly quit his job and stopped making payments on his house, defaulting on the $218,400 mortgage.[26] He moved out around May 2009, with his wife following about a month later. Shahzad and his family moved to Pakistan.[29] He was sued by the bank in September 2009, and the bank foreclosed on his home.[17]
A Shelton neighbor said that Shahzad and his wife had two young children, a girl and a boy.[29][not in citation given]
[edit]Attempted bombing of Times Square
[edit]Reported preparations
On July 3, 2009, he reportedly traveled to Pakistan and is believed to have visited Peshawar, a gateway to the militant-occupied tribal regions of Pakistan and stayed there from July 7 to July 22.[30] While in Pakistan, he said he trained at a terrorist training camp in what was believed to be Waziristan, according to law enforcement officials.[31]
Shahzad's most recent stay in Pakistan lasted for five months; he returned to the U.S. on February 3, 2010, on an Emirates flight from Dubai.[3][9][30][32]
Shahzad was believed to have bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder which was used in the car bomb attempt within three weeks prior to the incident. The vehicle was purchased through an ad on Craigslist, for $1,300 which Shahzad reportedly paid a Connecticut woman for in $100 bills.[33] The money was paid and the car turned over at a Connecticut shopping center, without any formal paperwork being exchanged.[34][29]
[edit]Arrest and charges
Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the incident,[6] at 11:45 p.m. EDT on May 3, 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents[7][8] (though at least one other source claims that he was captured by New York detectives and FBI agents [35]). He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport, as he sat on board Emirate Airlines Flight 202 to Dubai before the plane had moved from the gate.[3][9][29][10] His final destination was to have been Islamabad, Pakistan.[3]
Lapses in security allowed Shahzad to board the plane. He had been placed on the no-fly list on Monday, May 3 at 12:30 p.m. when investigators became more certain he was a suspect.[36] Investigators then lost track of Shahzad before he drove to the airport on the evening of May 3, and did not know he was planning to leave the country.[36] The Emirates airline did not check the no-fly list for added names at 6:30 p.m. when Shahzad made a reservation, or at 7:35 p.m. when he purchased the ticket at JFK airport with cash.[36] Shahzad was later allowed to board the plane. However, a routine post boarding check at 11:00 p.m. revealed that Shahzad was on the no-fly list.[36] Within minutes, agents boarded the plane which was still at the gate and arrested him. [36]
Shortly after the arrest, Attorney General Holder said "Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country".[10]Holder later said that Shahzad had admitted involvement in the incident, and that Shahzad was providing useful information.[37][38]
According to Deputy FBI Director John Pistole, Shahzad was initially interrogated under the public safety exception to the Miranda rule, cooperated with authorities, and was later read his Miranda rights. He continued to cooperate and provide information after he was read the rights.[39]
The FBI and NYPD searched Shahzad's Bridgeport, Connecticut home on May 4, at Sheridan Street and Boston Avenue, removing filled plastic bags.[3] Materials related to the bomb were found in his apartment, including boxes that had contained the alarm clocks, and his car at the airport had a 9mm Kel-Tec SUB-2000 carbine with five full magazines of ammunition, according to law enforcement officials.[30][33]
The complaint filed in federal court on May 4, 2010[40] charges Shahzad with five counts of terrorism-related crimes: 1) Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, 2) Attempting to kill and maim people in the U.S., 3) Using and carrying a destructive device, 4) Transporting an explosive device, and, 5) Attempting to damage building, vehicles, and other property.[3][4] If he is convicted on these charges, he faces up to life in prison.[3]
[edit]International ties and investigation
It was reported that Pakistani authorities arrested a number of suspects in the investigation of the attempted car bombing, including two or three people at a house where Shahzad is said to have stayed.[37] Pakistani intelligence officials said a man named Tauseef, who was a friend of Shahzad, was detained in Karachi in connection with the case.[10] Representative Jane Harman, a California Democrat, said Pakistani officials arrested "alleged facilitators" as part of a "far broader investigation."[41].
According to the Wall Street Journal, Shahzad received bomb-making training from the Pakistan Taliban.[42] According to CBS News, Shahzad has been on the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list since 1999 because he has been bringing in large amounts of cash (approximately $80,000) into the United States.[43]
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