She wouldn’t provide further details, but a government official and a law enforcement official who were briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press that five people in the vehicle were being questioned at an FBI building in Manhattan.
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A law enforcement official says fingerprints and surveillance video helped investigators identify him as the man suspected of setting off bombs in the NY area over the weekend.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation.
Police have charged the man arrested in connection with recent bombings in NY and New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer.
The charges, which also include weapons offences, stem from a gun battle with police in which the 28-year-old naturalised United States citizen from Afghanistan was taken into custody.
The police and Rahami were involved in a shooting after the 28-year-old fired shots that hit a police officer.
Afghanistan-born American, Rahami made frequent trips to Pakistan which many law enforcement officials believe helped radicalise him. A backpack full of unexploded bombs was later found in New Jersey.
It wasn’t clear when the Elizabeth station would be open, a threat to cause major issues on the Monday morning commute into NY. No one was injured. “Cops are the real heroes, law enforcement are the real heroes”, Bains said.
Rahami majored in criminal justice at a small college in Edison, New Jersey, but never graduated.
On Monday night Rahami was charged in New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of police officers in connection with the shoot-out and federal prosecutors are still considering charges over the bombings. His family runs a chicken store which they kept open 24/7 in violation of the city’s ordinance and this led to clashes with the community.
Rahami has been “directly linked” to devices from NY and from the recent explosion in New Jersey.
In 2011, the family sued the city and its police department, alleging discrimination and harassment against Muslims stemming from disputes over the restaurant’s hours.
About 10 minutes later, surveillance video showed the same man with the same duffel bag on West 27th Street, multiple law enforcement sources said.
A bloodied Rahami was loaded into the back of an ambulance, just 50 hours after the first blast that started it all.
Five of his relatives or associates were stopped for questioning as they drove across the Verrazano Bridge, which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn.
Linden mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came late on Monday morning, when a bar owner reported someone asleep in his doorway.
Rahami and two police officers were wounded in the exchange of gunfire. More officers joined in a gun battle that spilled into the street. He declined to say whether they might later face charges.
Another police officer was grazed by a bullet.
He said that the resilience of local residents showed that “neither individuals nor organisations like ISIL [Islamic State] can ultimately undermine our way of life”.
The father of the alleged NY and New Jersey bomber has said he “thinks” his son could be responsible for the attacks.
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President Barack Obama on Monday called on Americans “not to succumb to fear” in the wake of the attacks.
