This September 2016 photo shows Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was charged with multiple counts of attempted murder of police officers in the shootout that led to his capture Monday, Sept. 19, 2016.
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USA authorities investigated whether Ahmad Khan Rahami, the naturalised American citizen captured on Monday in New Jersey after a shootout with police, had accomplices in the bombings or if he was radicalised during trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Rahmani remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that it began an assessment of the younger Rahami in 2014 based on comments his father made about his son after “a domestic dispute”.
Rahami’s former girlfriend Maria Mena has asked a court to give her full custody of the child she had with the suspect and issue a restraining order against him – citing his arrest as the basis for her petition, NBC has confirmed.
According to court documents, between June 20, 2016 and August 10, 2016, eBay user “ahmad rahimi” purchased several items the FBI investigator described as being used in improved explosives including a Citric Acid USP/Food Grade 5Lb pack, “great for bath bombs and candy making”.
A Union County grand jury declined to indict suspected bomber Ahmad Rahami for allegedly stabbing a family member and threatening him with a gun in an Aug, 2014 incident in Elizabeth, according to court documents obtained by The Record.
The official, and other USA security sources, said Rahami underwent additional security screening upon returning from overseas but passed each time. Rahami was listed in critical but stable condition, and police had not yet been able to interview him in depth, New York Police Department Commissioner James O’Neill said.
Wife left the U.S.
Rahami worked as an unarmed night guard for two months in 2011 at an AP administrative technology office in Cranbury, New Jersey.
AP global security chief Danny Spriggs said he learned this week that Rahami worked night shifts at the AP building and often engaged colleagues in long political discussions, expressing sympathy for the Taliban and disdain for US military action in Afghanistan.
Another law enforcement official said the father “recanted the whole story” about his son associating with terrorists.
Summit’s vice president of security services, Daniel Sepulveda, said Rahami last did work for the company in 2011 and left the job because he wanted an extended leave that didn’t coincide with his work schedule.
Sepulveda wouldn’t discuss where else Rahami had security assignments but said he was unaware of any complaints about his conduct.
The Minnesota attacker was described as a “soldier of the Islamic State”, the militant group’s news agency said.
The travel by the two women, along with the whereabouts of Ahmad Rahami’s other relatives and associates, have been a source of continued interest to investigators, who are trying to determine whether the bombing suspect acted alone or had help.
One of the officials, who specialises in counter-terrorism, said the “secondary” screening included asking Rahami where he had gone and for what goal. No one was injured.
The complaint also accuses him of leaving another set of explosives in a trash bin by a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
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Investigators zeroed in on Rahami after he was seen in surveillance footage taken Saturday night amid the mayhem in Chelsea.
