A US citizen of Pakistani origin arrested on board a flight out of New York will appear in court today charged with driving a car bomb into the city's Times Square.
Faisal Shahzad has made statements implicating himself in the failed bomb plot and claiming that he worked alone, according to a report in The New York Times.
He was arrested in the cabin of a commercial flight bound for Dubai as it pulled away from the gate at John F. Kennedy airport just before midnight on Monday night.
Mr Shahzad, 30, is a naturalised American who immigrated from Pakistan and gained US citizenship last year. He recently spent five months in Pakistan, where his wife lives, before returning to Connecticut in February.
Two other people were removed from the Emirates Airlines flight but it is believed they were detained for questioning because they had similar names to the suspect.
President Barack Obama said today that America would not be terrorised and disaster had been averted by the vigilance of normal citizens. "This suspect has been apprehended because of close and effective intelligence at every level," he said.
Mr Shahzad had apparently driven a white Isuzu Trooper to JFK airport before the flight. A handgun was found inside the vehicle.
Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York questioned why the suspect was able to get through security to successfully board a plane.
"I don't want to speculate how that happened. Clearly the guy was on the plane and shouldn't have been," Bloomberg said at a press conference.
Mr Bloomberg said "we should take a good look" at how Shahzad was able to get on the plane after buying a ticket and clearing strict security procedures.
"I don't want to criticize those who provide security at the airports," Bloomberg said. "It is a federal agency that has a no-fly list that lets you on or not."
This morning FBI agents searched Mr Shahzad's home address in Bridgeport Connecticut and removed full plastic bags. A bomb squad arrived at the scene but did not enter the house.
Law enforcement officials say Shahzad bought the sport utility vehicle, a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, used in the failed attack from a Connecticut man about three weeks ago and paid cash.
The vehicle identification number had been removed from the Pathfinder's dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine, and investigators used it to find the owner of record, who told them he had sold the vehicle to a stranger.
The SUV was parked on Saturday night on a busy midtown Manhattan street near a theatre showing "The Lion King." The explosive device inside it had cheap-looking alarm clocks connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks, which were apparently intended to detonate gas cans and set propane tanks afire in a chain reaction "to cause mayhem, to create casualties," police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
A metal rifle cabinet placed in the SUV's cargo area was packed with fertilizer, but NYPD bomb experts believe it was not a type volatile enough to explode like the ammonium nitrate grade fertilizer used in previous terrorist bombings.
Police said the SUV bomb could have produced "a significant fireball; and sprayed shrapnel with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows.
Eric Holder, US attorney general, said Americans should remain vigilant.
"It's clear," he said, "that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans."
In Pakistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the AP that authorities had not been formally asked for help in the probe but would cooperate if asked.
An official in Pakistan's Interior Ministry said that Mr. Shahzad had come to Pakistan in April 2009 and departed on August 5 on an Emirates Airways flight. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Shahzad stayed in the port city of Karachi during that period.
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