Law enforcement has been working to identify those two men, but they say that they are not related to the plot.
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Her husband, with whom she has a child, has been charged with attempted murder of police officers following a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, and is in custody at $5.2 million bail. He will first face federal charges in NY when he is out of the hospital. He is not in sufficient physical health for court, according to a federal filing.
Federal legal aid attorneys in NY and New Jersey have filed petitions to hold an immediate hearing for Rahami, saying that he has been questioned by federal authorities without legal representation ever since he was arrested.
A law enforcement official says investigators have not yet been able to question the man charged with planting bombs in NY and New Jersey because of the severity of his injuries.
Still concerned about his travel, officials notified the National Targeting Center, a federal agency that assesses potential threats, two law enforcement officials told the paper.
The store owner says he used a valid Virginia ID, and a state fishing license to buy the weapon and ammunition.
Rahami’s wife, Asia Bibi Rahami, an Afghan, is back in the USA after being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local authorities in the United Arab Emirates.
The FBI continued Wednesday with their theory that Rahami acted alone but were not closing off the possibility that he had help, said William Sweeney, the new FBI Special Agent in Charge for the NY office.
In this September 17, 2016 file photo, first responders work near the scene of an explosion in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, in NY.
Mohammad Rahami’s contact with the authorities began in August 2014, when police were called to the family’s home in Elizabeth, N.J., after a domestic dispute in which Ahmad stabbed his brother, according to court records.
Bharara also dismissed statements from some in Congress that Rahami should be treated as an “enemy combatant” rather than facing trial in a civilian court with a full array of rights. During its inception, ISIS encouraged followers to travel to its territory in Iraq and Syria, but eventually its orders changed, with ISIS propagandists telling followers like Rahami to engage in attacks where they were living. “Therefore, I will have no further comments at this time and kindly ask that you please respect my privacy and that of my family”.
In court papers, a public defender sought a court appearance for Rahami, an Afghan-born USA citizen, so he can hear the federal terrorism charges against him. In a federal court filing Thursday, lawyers from the US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey wrote that they’ve been informed by Rahami’s medical team that “he is now incapacitated and intubated”. He was then taken into surgery after being shot by police several times during his apprehension and charged with four counts by federal prosecutors that night. Thirty-one people were injured in the NY blast.
Earlier Thursday, John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said investigators weren’t completely convinced that he acted alone.
Fingerprint, cellphone, and other evidence tie the bombs to Mr. Rahami, officials have said.
Mohammed Rahami has always been the proprietor of First American Fried Chicken, a casual restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey. They included ball bearings, which he allegedly packed into pressure cooker bombs, igniters and circuit boards.
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Lynch said on Thursday that federal authorities were placing renewed scrutiny on the increasingly common practice of purchasing materials for homemade explosives on the Internet.
