Bharathi B
Three heroic cops and a quick-thinking street vendor stopped a madman from detonating a car bomb in the heart of Times Square in New York, U.S.A on 1 May 2010 Saturday night.
Police sources said that it looked as though someone had tried to detonate it and that they got to it in time. The federal government viewed the incident a “potential terrorist attack,” Cops evacuated and shut down the Times Square May 1 2010, but all streets were reopened by 7:30 a.m. the next day.
The suspect’s vehicle, a dark blue 1993 Nissan Pathfinder sport utility vehicle with dark tinted windows, entered Times Square at approximately 6:28 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on May 1, 2010, as seen on surveillance video The source of the news was a T-shirt vendor – a Vietnam vet – who told Officer Wayne Rhatigan that there was smoke coming from a Nissan SUV on the southwest corner of 45th St. and Broadway at about 6:30 p.m. Rhatigan approached the car, saw the smoke and sprang into action. The officer smelt gunpowder and knew it might blow. He alerted two rookie female cops patrolling the area. Together, they pushed hundreds of people away from the scene as they called for backup. The Fire Department and bomb squad rushed to the scene.
The team found in the rear of the vehicle:
- two travel alarm clocks with batteries that apparently were fashioned as triggering devices, connected by electrical wires to
- two red full 5-gallon cans of gasoline, sandwiching
- 40+ consumer-grade M-88 firecrackers inside a 20-ounce metal container (wrapped in duct tape, with its end removed),
- gunpowder,
- three full 20-gallon propane tanks, and
- a 55-inch (1,400 mm) x 32-inch (810 mm) green metal gun locker that contained:
- a metal pressure cooker pot containing a thicket of wires, that also connected to the alarm clocks;
- 250 pounds (113 kg) of urea-based fertilizer in 8 plastic bags; and
- 120 M-88s.
Police spokesman Paul Browne said cops were investigating a report that someone was seen running from the vehicle at some point and are reviewing security videotapes. Cops began evacuating the Crossroads of the World as the bomb squad used a robot to get inside the car. Tourists rushed out of the Marriott Marquis hotel and several Broadway shows.
Two days after the incident, federal agents arrested Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistan-born resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who had become a US citizen in April 2009. He was arrested after he had boarded Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and it had begun to taxi towards the runway, but was called back. He admitted attempting the car bombing and said that he was trained at aPakistani terrorist training camp, according to U.S. officials.
United States Attorney General Eric Holder said that Shahzad’s intent had been “to kill Americans”. Shahzad was charged in federal court in Manhattan on May 4 2010 with “terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.” More than a dozen people were arrested by Pakistani officials in connection with the plot. Shahzad told interrogators that he was “inspired by” Anwar- al- Awlaki, with whom he was reportedly in internet contact. An initial claim of responsibility by the Pakistani Taliban was dismissed at first; however, Holder later said the Pakistani Taliban directed the attack and may have financed the same. John Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, said that it’s a group that was closely allied with Al-Qaeda.
Since then, three more people have been arrested on suspicion of supporting the man who has been charged with the failed Times Square bomb plot. The three men are all of Pakistani origin and they are in police custody. Police say they have not yet established if they gave the money towards the failed bomb plot or helped Faisal in some other way.
The men have not yet been charged and police said that the investigations are ongoing to ascertain their exact role in the failed May 1 bomb attack. Faisal Shazhad said that he collected several thousands of dollars from the arrested men in the days leading to the May 1 2010 failed attacks.
Meanwhile US law enforcement authorities say Shazhad has been cooperative with authorities since his arrest aboard an Emirates flight bound for Dubai. Authorities say Shazhad is giving them all the information that they need concerning the connections and links that he has and this has been very helpful for the authorities.
Mr. Shazhad who has told authorities that he learnt how to make bombs in Pakistan, prior to the failed attempt on the New York Times Square is pressing for a speedy trial.
Faisal Shazhad had other targets in mind besides the New York Times Square where his bombing plan failed, according to the investigators. Shazhad who investigators say have confirmed that he worked for the Pakistani Taliban, has been cooperating with investigators after his arrest from a Dubai bound Emirates flight.
Shazhad’s other targets included New York’s Rockefeller Center, the World Financial Center, Grand Central Terminal and Sikorsky in Connecticut. Shazhad had actually gone ahead and done surveillance on these places, according to an official of the counterterrorism unit, who disclosed these details to the media.
Investigators believed the car bomb was actually made up of four separate, individual explosive components — in effect, four bombs comprising one large bomb. The firecrackers would have started the process by setting off triggering devices, attached to the gasoline. That would have created an explosion that would then have in turn set off the propane and the fertilizer. A cell phone and wristwatch recovered from the vehicle may have been intended as separate timing/triggering devices. The maker of the “bomb” incorrectly surmised that the urea/sugar mixture fertilizer would work like the ammonium nitrate-based fertilizer which was used in the Oklahoma City bombing.
The improvised explosive device’s ignition source malfunctioned, however, and failed to set it off as intended. Had it detonated, NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the bomb would have cut the car in half, and “would have caused casualties, a significant fireball.” Police said the bomb would likely also have sprayed shrapnel, and killed or wounded many people.
On 23 may 2010, the Pakistani police detained another man on suspicion of having links with Pakistani- American terror suspect Faisal Shahzad. The man was taken into custody by over two dozen policemen, some in civilian clothes, who raided the posh Kohsar Marke. The man who put up some resistance, was handcuffed and taken in a vehicle to an undisclosed place. According to witnesses, the man in his mid-30s came to the market at about 7 pm on 23 May 2010, and sat in an open area. He kept calling or sending messages on his cell phone, before the raid at about 10:30 pm.
Media reports have said that the ISI is conducting the investigation into Shahzad’s links and contacts in Pakistan. Seven men have either been picked up or gone missing since May 10 2010 in Islamabad, including Suleman Ashraf, the son of the owner of ‘Hanif Rajput Catering Service’, and Ahmed Raza Khan. These men are believed to have been detained by intelligence operatives for alleged links with Shahzad.
Ashraf allegedly provided financial help to Shahzad when he was studying at the University of Houston. He returned to Pakistan from the US in 2001 after getting a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He was last seen by his family when he left for his office at about 11 am on May 10. Ashraf’s wife lodged a complaint on May 19, 2010 with the Supreme Court’s Human Right Cell about his disappearance. Ashraf’s father claims that his son had no relations with Shahzad.
The US embassy in Pakistan has issued a warning to US government personnel and American citizens about terrorist groups forging links with the Hanif Rajput Catering Service.
However, unnamed security officials have been quoted in media reports as saying that Shahzad lived in Ashraf’s house in Islamabad for some time.
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