An image of Ahmad Khan Rahami, who has been arrested in connection with an explosion in New York City, is seen in a poster released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on September 19.
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“They’re not in any jeopardy of being arrested”, Jim Watters, chief of the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism unit, said yesterday. An attorney with a legal aid group wrote in federal court papers that Rahami has been questioned for days without access to legal representation.
Rahami, who lived with his family above the First American Fried Chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, is also suspected of planting a bomb that exploded on the New Jersey shore on Saturday, a device found near the NY blast, and up to six more devices found near the Elizabeth train station on Sunday night.The bombings and subsequent manhunt prompted even greater security in America’s biggest city, already on high alert for a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in NY for the annual General Assembly this week.
Ball bearings were found in the pressure cooker and at the W. 23rd St. scene.
William Sweeney, the FBI’s assistant director in NY, said on Monday that that at the time of the bombing, Rahami was apparently not on the FBI’s radar.
In court papers, a public defender sought a court appearance for Rahami, an Afghan-born USA citizen, so he can hear the federal terrorism charges against him.
It also praised Anwar al-Awlaki, a notorious preacher and Al Qaeda recruiter, Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda, and Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Ft. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer who could comment on the charges against him, which include federal terror crimes and state charges of attempting to murder police officers. He remains in University Hospital.
Investigators are looking into Rahami’s overseas travel, including a visit to Pakistan a few years ago, and want to know whether he received any money or training from extremist organizations.
Authorities recovered a cellphone video from the camera of one of Rahami’s relatives showing an igniter for a bomb being set off in a backyard.
On Saturday morning, a pipe bomb detonated along the route of a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside Park. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away.
Surveillance video shows Rahami rolling a suitcase down the street before leaving it.
He also is accused of planting another pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea that failed to explode, and multiple devices at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“The sounds of bombs will be heard in the streets”, the journal declared.
The FBI released an image of the two men that it says was captured on closed circuit television recordings between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on West 27th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.
Rahami worked as an unarmed night guard for two months in 2011 at an AP administrative technology office in Cranbury, New Jersey.
Since 2008, the mother, Maria J. Mena, and Rahami have been engaged in a court battle over custody and support of their child. Rahami allegedly violated a restraining order barring contact with Mena and was behind on child support payments, records show.
Rahami criticized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and wrote in his notebook about “killing the kuffar”, or unbelievers, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
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Court complaints filed Tuesday give a chilling glimpse into what authorities say motivated the Afghan-born US citizen to set off explosives last weekend in NY and New Jersey. Patton did not respond to a message seeking comment.
