NEW YORK — The Pakistani- American accused of the failed Times Square car bombing is believed to have been working alone when he began preparing the attack almost immediately after returning from his native land, authorities said Wednesday. They said they have yet to find a wider link to extremist groups.
The New York Times reported, however, that other officials said it was very likely that the Pakistani Taliban, once thought unable to attack the United States, had played a role in Saturday’s bombing attempt.
Two new surveillance videos emerged of the bomb suspect, Faisal Shahzad. Police told The Associated Press that one video shows him in a white baseball cap and a dark jacket walking away from the smoking, bomb-laden Nissan Pathfinder parked in the bustling heart of New York City.
The second video shows him buying a batch of weak fireworks in a store in Pennsylvania, according to the shop’s owner.
One law enforcement official told AP that authorities don’t believe there are any other suspects in the plot and that several arrests in Pakistan in the past two days were not related.
Another senior administration official cautioned The New York Times that “there are no smoking guns yet,” suggesting that the Pakistani Taliban directed the attempted bombing. Others said there were strong indications that Shahzad knew some members of the Taliban and that they likely played a role in training him.
One issue that investigators are vigorously pursuing is who provided Shahzad with cash to purchase the SUV and his plane ticket, The Times reported.
“Somebody’s financially sponsoring him, and that’s the link we’re pursuing,” one official said. “And that would take you on the logic train back to Pak-Taliban authorizations,” referring to the group.
All the officials spoke about the case on condition of anonymity.
Shahzad faces terrorism and weapons charges after authorities said he admitted rigging the Pathfinder with a crude bomb of firecrackers, propane and alarm clocks based on explosives training he received in Pakistan. Authorities said he was cooperating with investigators and did not appear in Manhattan federal court for a second day.
Authorities indicated that Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired air force official in Pakistan, had launched the bomb plot almost immediately after returning to his Connecticut home in February from the visit to his native land.
The FBI was able to identify Shahzad’s name because of information Customs and Border Protection officials shared months earlier, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
When Shahzad returned from Pakistan in February, customs officials noticed he had traveled to Pakistan previously but for weeks instead of months like his most recent trip. He came back to the U.S. without his family and without a return plane ticket.
When customs officials come across people with suspicious travel patterns such as these, they send information along to the FBI.
Shahzad was hauled off a Dubai-bound plane he had boarded Monday night at Kennedy Airport.
