Local and federal authorities were warned back in 2014 by the father of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man suspected of planting bombs in New York and New Jersey this past weekend, that he might have terrorist sympathies, the New York Times reports.
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The FBI looked into Mohammad Rahami’s initial claims in 2014, but he later said he has only meant that his son was hanging out with the wrong crowd, including gangs.
Mohammad Rahami told reporters outside the family’s friend chicken restaurant in Elizabeth Tuesday that he spoke to the Federal Bureau of Investigation two years ago, but, asked by a reporter if he thought his son was a terrorist, he said, “No”. “But they check it nearly two months”.
The complaint also includes excerpts from a handwritten journal authorities say they he wrote.
Rahami, captured Monday morning, was charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful goal on Monday, according to the Union County (New Jersey) prosecutor’s office.
In addition to the counts of attempted murder, Rahami is charged with second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful objective, Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Monday evening.
Correction: Sept. 20, 2016 A previous version of this story misidentified the title of the NBC correspondent who interviewed Mohammad Rahami in New Jersey. As law enforcement cordoned off the area, investigators found a pressure cooker on West 27th Street four blocks away.
Citing unnamed law enforcement sources, CNN said the trips included a year-long stay in Pakistan ending in March 2014.
It has been reported that Rahami travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan multiple times in recent years, with police considering whether he had been radicalised overseas.
Rahami and two police officers were wounded in the exchange of gunfire before his arrest.
On Tuesday morning, the father was outside the family’s home in Elizabeth when he was asked by a reporter if he thought his son was a terrorist.
Perez said Rahami had not aroused any kind of suspicion that he might have been radicalizing.
Mr. Rahami allegedly planted bombs in two locations in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, and allegedly placed explosives in Seaside Park and Elizabeth, N.J.
Separately on Tuesday, another official said that when Rahami was captured during a shootout with police, he was carrying a notebook that contained writings sympathetic to jihadi causes. The bombs in New Jersey, which were clusters of pipe bombs, partially detonated but didn’t harm anyone. Investigators have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices. William Sweeney Jr., the FBI’s assistant director in NY, said there was no indication so far that the bombings were the work of a larger terror cell.
A woman who had a child with the man suspected of setting off bombs in NY and New Jersey has asked a court to give her full custody of their son. A fingerprint lifted from the pressure cooker helped lead police to Rahami. A number of devices were also found, including an abandoned backpack at Elizabeth train station.
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Times staff writers Wilber and Demick reported from Washington and NY, respectively.
