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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Multiple Arrests in Failed Times Square Bombing

A man has been arrested in Karachi in connection with the investigation of the Times Square bombing attempt, Pakistani intelligence sources told Fox News.

The capture comes after the arrest of a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen, who was minutes away from fleeing the U.S. when his Dubai-bound flight was returned to its gate at New York's Kennedy Airport and U.S. officials escorted him from the plane, along with two other men.

The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, will appear in court Tuesday to face charges that he tried to set off a massive fireball and kill Americans after parking his car on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theaters, federal authorities said.

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan was handling the case against Shahzad, 30, but has not yet made the charges against him public. FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Conn., early Tuesday, said agent Kimberly Mertz, who wouldn't answer questions about the search.

Authorities removed filled plastic bags from the house overnight in a mixed-race, working-class neighborhood of multi-family homes in Connecticut's largest city. A bomb squad came and went without entering as local police and FBI agents gathered in the cordoned-off street.

In all, three passengers were removed from Emirates Airline Flight EK202 late Monday night as Shahzad was taken into custody by FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives.

But Shahzad told investigators he acted alone and denied any ties to radical groups in his native Pakistan, a U.S. law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

Though Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that Shahzad was identified by customs agents and taken into custody before boarding his flight, a representative for Emirates Airlines confirmed to Fox News that Flight 202 "was called back by the local authorities prior to departure," and that the three passengers who were removed had already boarded the plane.

"Full security procedures were activated including the deplaning of all passengers and a thorough screening of the aircraft, passengers, and baggage," the airline representative told Fox News. "Emirates is cooperating with the local authorities." The plane was delayed about seven hours and took off for Dubai at approximately 6:30 a.m. ET.

Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen and had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he had a wife, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation into the failed car bombing. - FOX News Story

What really strikes me is that the Attorney General Tells us one story and everyone else is telling a different story.

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