When Rahami tried to return to the United States, he lobbied for his wife to join him in New Jersey.
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America’s difficulties in stopping lone-wolf terrorists before they strike were underscored on Tuesday as reports said that the father of the suspect in last weekend’s bombings in NY and New Jersey had once told authorities his son was a terrorist.
Rahami was brought to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, much like others who have carried out attacks in the United States in recent years. He had a wife.
Rahami provided investigators with a wealth of clues that led to his arrest just 50 hours after the first explosion, according to three law enforcement officials.
Two years ago, Rahami had been living in Pakistan for a year when he contacted the office of Rep. Albio Sires, D-New Jersey. But asked whether he thought his son was a terrorist, the father said: “No”.
Officials said they have no other suspects at large but cautioned they are still investigating.
In public records reviewed by Fox, the father, Mohammad Rahami, said he separated from his wife Najiba in 2005, but Reyes told Fox that he saw her living at the residence “all the time”.
In 2014, Rahami’s father, Muhammed Rahami, says he reported his son to authorities as a possible terrorist.
The devices weren’t all the same though, federal investigators tell NBC News. “We set out to find those responsible for these terrorism acts, and we are proud to bring this case to justice”.
During the manhunt for bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami, police received help from a very important part of the community – local muslims who came together to help track him down.
While they were together, she says he would often compared American culture to life in Afghanistan, saying how ‘there weren’t homosexuals in Afghanistan’.
The notebook had a bullet hole in it. It is unclear how he learned about bomb-making – maybe online as the Boston Marathon bombers did, the official said, “but there’s no information yet to indicate motivation”.
They quietly zeroed in on Rahami, a 5-foot-6, 200-pound man whose family runs a fried-chicken joint in Elizabeth, N.J.
The suspect’s foreign trips were coming under scrutiny, with USA media reporting that he had traveled to Pakistan and his native Afghanistan multiple times. Police were looking into whether he was radicalised overseas, CNN said.
In 2011, Rahami spent several weeks in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and Quetta, Pakistan, which is considered to be a stronghold of the Taliban.
The official didn’t provide details about her travels but said authorities are working with officials in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates to gain access to her.
Rahami first came to the United States in 1995 as a child, after his father arrived seeking asylum, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2011, according to a law enforcement official who reviewed his travel and immigration record.
At some point, he married a Pakistani woman. Once it was renewed, she discovered she was pregnant. It is unclear what happened to the child.
Another excerpt reads: “The sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets”.
Rahami was identified Sunday afternoon through a fingerprint.
The blast in the Chelsea section of Manhattan came later Saturday, and an unexploded device was found hours later a few blocks away. Authorities revealed his identity on Monday morning. Since his capture in Linden, New Jersey, signs have emerged that Rahami was interested in extremist ideologies. Mr Rahami opened fire on officers who approached him, hitting one in his bulletproof vest.
Rahami has already been charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law-enforcement officer.
The chase ended when Rahami was shot multiple times. He was taken to a hospital for surgery.
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Mr. Rahami is now in custody at a Newark, N.J., hospital, where he is being treated for gunshot wounds from his shootout with police officers.
