(Moshe Weiss via AP).
Advertisement
Ahmad Khan Rahami is facing charges in two states after investigators say he planted a series of bombs in NY and New Jersey, including one that injured 31 people when it blew up on a busy street.
The man thought to be behind a series of bombings and attempted bombings in NY and New Jersey may not have been part of a terror cell, but based on previous investigations, chances are good he had some sort of help, FBI officials said Tuesday.
If it is not possible for Rahami’s physical appearance in court because of the continuing medical treatment, Patton said an attorney from his office could represent the suspect in a telephone or video conference. This undated photo provided by the New Jersey State Police shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, wanted for questioning Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of NY and the New Jersey shore t.
“I have cooperated with authorities and told them all I know about Ahmad Rahami”, said the woman, who was not named in the statement.
The two men, who took the bag but left the improvised bomb on the street are not suspects, officials said, but investigators want to interview them as witnesses.
The man suspected of setting off bombs in NY and New Jersey used to work as an unarmed guard at private security companies, including one that provided services to The Associated Press. They say he wrote a journal that praised Osama bin Laden and other Muslim extremists, fumed about what he saw as the USA government’s killing of Muslim holy warriors and declared “death to your oppression”.
The bomb that exploded on 23rd Street injured 31 people.
Sky’s New York Correspondent Hannah Thomas-Peter said the footage showed the men walking along the street and coming across the “brightly-coloured” suitcase before looking inside and pulling out the device Rahami had allegedly planted. It’s not seen in the video obtained by NBC 4, but police said they opened the suitcase, removed the pressure cooker and walked off. A second bomb discovered blocks away didn’t explode.
Ahmad Rahami’s travels overseas – including to Quetta in northwest Pakistan – have also raised questions with U.S. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, who has regularly visited the Middle East. Rahami, who is a naturalized citizen from Afghanistan, reportedly spent almost a year in Afghanistan and Quetta, Pakistan, from April 2013 to March 2014.
Investigators were searching Tuesday for clues to the motive behind the bombings and attempted bombings in NY and New Jersey over the weekend and to determine whether the Afghanistan-born suspect had accomplices or had been radicalized overseas.
The judge noted that court rules require an arrested person be brought before the court “without unnecessary delay”.
Ahmad Rahami was charged Tuesday with four counts in federal court in connection with incidents in Seaside Heights, NJ, and Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.
The disclosure of the father’s contacts with the Federal Bureau of Investigation raises questions about whether there was anything more law enforcement could have done at the time to determine whether Rahami had terrorist aspirations.
“In fact, this question is very much in dispute”, Gorenstein wrote.
Rahami was wounded in a shootout with police and is in a hospital in New Jersey. He is being held on $5.2 million bail, and he faces state charges of attempted murder of police officers.
While FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr., said there is “no indication” of an active operating cell in the NY area, Rep. Adam Schiff and a National Counterterrorism Center official said that Rahami was not working alone.
There also were laudatory references to Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki – the American-born Muslim cleric who was killed in a 2011 drone strike and whose preaching has inspired other acts of violence – and Nidal Hasan, the former Army officer who went on a deadly shooting rampage in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, the complaints said.
Rahami’s wife met with US law enforcement officials while in the United Arab Emirates and voluntarily gave a statement, a law enforcement official said on Wednesday. She’s believed to have left the US for overseas in June.
The officials were not authorized to publicly reveal details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, touring the site of the Manhattan blast on Wednesday, said he believes insurance companies will cover most of the losses incurred by those whose businesses and homes were damaged.
Rahami remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds from a shootout with police that led to his capture Monday outside a bar in Linden, New Jersey.
Advertisement
Padilla told students Thursday at a Linden school that he was “a bit nervous” when he confronted Rahami, but “I can only say: I was just doing my job”.
