Alleged Times Square bomber expected to enter plea

Suspected Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, is expected to enter a plea on Monday as he faces his second appearance in court charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and with terrorism.

Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old Pakistani-American, was pulled off a flight to Dubai on May 3, two days after he allegedly parked a car packed with a rudimentary explosive device in New York’s busy theatre district.

The attempted bombing on a busy Saturday night outside a theatre showing ‘The Lion King’ was foiled when street vendors spotted smoke emanating from the back of a Nissan Pathfinder and alerted authorities.

A 53-hour manhunt ensued, ending with Shahzad’s arrest as his plane was about to taxi for take-off from John F. Kennedy Airport to Dubai.

Shahzad, has cooperated fully in custody, repeatedly waiving Miranda rights that protect detainees from incriminating themselves, US justice officials say.The ten-count indictment handed down on Thursday by a federal grand jury linked the plot to the Pakistani Taliban, saying Shahzad had received explosives training in Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold on the Afghan border.

“After his arrest, Shahzad admitted that he had recently received bomb-making training in Pakistan. He also admitted that he had brought the Pathfinder to Times Square and attempted to detonate it,” it said.

Shahzad bought a semi-automatic nine millimeter Kel-Tec rifle in March and the Nissan Pathfinder, for which he paid 1,300 dollars cash, in a supermarket parking lot, on April 24, it alleged.He then bought components for “improvised explosive and incendiary devices,” loaded them in the Pathfinder, and on May 1 drove the sport utility vehicle to Times Square, the complaint said.

Shahzad faces charges included attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, attempted use of a destructive device in a terrorist conspiracy and other conspiracy, explosives and weapons related charges.

A naturalised American who spent much of the last decade in the United States and is the son of a retired Pakistani air force officer, Shahzad faces life in prison if found guilty.

He grew up in Pakistan in a middle-class family of four children and went to an Pakistan Air Force college before coming to the US to study.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2010.