ISLAMABAD — Two men detained in Pakistan admitted with pride that they helped the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing, and one of the men angrily accused his interrogators of “siding with the infidels,” a senior intelligence official said Saturday.
The pair are among six men officials say have been detained in Pakistan for alleged ties to Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-American arrested in the United States two days after the failed May 1 attack in New York. Like Shahzad, the detainees are all from their country’s urban elite, including several who were educated in the United States.
Details about the six were released late Friday, though officials have not said when they were detained. Five were picked up in the capital, Islamabad, and one is co-owner of a posh catering company that the U.S. Embassy said was suspected of ties to terrorist groups.
The intelligence official, part of the team questioning the men, cited the two suspects as saying they did not do anything wrong and “proudly” describing Shahzad as their friend. The official said one of the suspects had even accused his interrogators of “siding with the infidels.”
One of the suspects, identified as Shoaib Mughal, is alleged to be a go-between for Shahzad and the Pakistani Taliban in their hide-outs close to the Afghan border.
He was running a large computer dealership in Islamabad before his detention, said the intelligence official, who — like most operatives in spy agencies around the world — did not give his name.
The other suspect, identified only by his first name, Shahid, is alleged to have helped arrange money for Shahzad. He has an MBA from the U.S. and apparently knew Shahzad from his time there.
The other four suspects also have expressed their hatred for the West and the U.S. but have not admitted any links with Shahzad, the official said.
