The bomb that had been in the suitcase did not explode.
Advertisement
Rahami, 28, was arrested on Monday following a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey.
Separately, a homeless man who took a backpack from a garbage can near a train station in Elizabeth, N.J., on Sunday night without knowing it contained pipe bombs said he’s grateful he didn’t set off an explosion.
Although federal agents have tried to question him, United States officials say he has not been co-operating.
Security camera footage shows the men taking a piece of luggage from the sidewalk, removing an improvised explosive device from it, and then leaving the device behind but taking the luggage, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They then took the luggage and left. They they left the scene with the duffel bag that originally concealed the bomb.
In a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein in New York, David Patton, executive director of the Federal Defenders of New York, urged federal authorities to schedule Rahami’s first court appearance as soon as Wednesday so that an attorney can be appointed to represent him. The federal criminal complaint stated Rahami was charged with use of a weapon of mass destruction, bombings of place of public use and public transportation system, attempted destruction of property by means of fire or explosive, and use of a destructive device during and furtherance of a crime of violence.
Describing Rahami’s actions “premeditated act of terrorism, ” Bharara said Rahami would soon be transferred to NY to face the terror charges.
According to the official, she left the U.S.in June for Pakistan, planning to spend the summer there.
In one section of Rahami’s journal, he wrote, “Inshallah (God willing), the sounds of bombs will be heard in the streets”. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing case.
Advertisement
The charges assert the 28-year-old naturalized USA citizen from Afghanistan, meant to “cause death and serious bodily injury” when he planted devices at four locations across New Jersey and NY, including the two in Manhattan. “I still have my nine lives, I guess, and I’m going to keep trying to live them well”.
