NYC Bomb Suspect Weighed Other Targets-Alleged terrorist list targets Sikorsky-Times Square Car Bomb Suspect Appears in Court-More NYC Bomb Plots Planned

Official: NYC bomb suspect looked at other targets

In this courtroom sketch, Judge James Francis presides over the arraignment for Faisal Shahzad, not pictured, in federal court in New York on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in New York. The suspect in a botched car bombing in Times Square did not enter a plea to five felony charges against him.


In this courtroom sketch, defendant Faisal Shahzad sits with assistant public defender Julia Gatto, left, during his arraignment in federal court in New York on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in New York. The suspect in a botched car bombing in Times Square did not enter a plea to five felony charges against him.


Police officers set up barricades in front of Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 18, 2010, in New York. Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in a failed car bombing in Times Square, did not enter a plea to five felony charges against him. 

While sequestered in a New York hotel room, the Times Square bomb suspect revealed he had thought about targeting other landmarks and asked investigators why the bomb he built failed to go off, people familiar with the probe said Wednesday.

Faisal Shahzad said he considered attacking Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, the World Financial Center near ground zero and Sikorsky Inc. — a defense contractor with an office in his Connecticut hometown — before deciding to abandon an SUV rigged with a homemade bomb in Times Square on May 1, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.



A person familiar with the case said Wednesday that during more than two weeks of questioning, the Pakistani-American also expressed surprise that the device — a mishmash of fireworks, gasoline canisters, propane tanks and fertilizer — did not detonate. The suspect said he thought the fireworks would trigger a chain-reaction that would rupture the tanks and create a deadly fireball, the person said.

Shahzad, who authorities say has claimed he received explosives training in Pakistan, even asked interrogators to explain why the device failed.

Shahzad left the vehicle on West 45th Street on a spring Saturday evening amid hundreds of people enjoying the tourist haven, prosecutors said. The attempted bombing prompted a massive police response, but no one was hurt.

Experts said the bomb had been poorly constructed with a nest of wires, battery-operated alarm clocks and heavy bags of fertilizer that couldn't explode.

There was no immediate response Wednesday to a phone message left with Shahzad's attorney.

On Tuesday, Shahzad appeared in a U.S. court for the first time since his May 3 arrest. Prosecutors had refused to disclose his whereabouts prior to the hearing, but a third official told the AP on Wednesday that he had been under guard at a Brooklyn hotel while he voluntarily answered investigators' questions.

All three people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the investigation had not been completed.

Shahzad, 30, was ordered held without bail on five felony charges including attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and attempted acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, each of which carry potential penalties of life in prison.

The ex-budget analyst from Bridgeport, Conn., was captured while attempting to flee in a Dubai-bound plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Since his arrest, Shahzad "has provided valuable intelligence from which further investigative action has been taken," the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan said in a statement Tuesday.

Pakistan Taliban 'was behind New York Times Square bomb plot'

Family man: Shahzad (right) and with a woman thought to be his wife Huma Mian and one of their children (right)

William Weimer, of Phantom Fireworks, speaks to the media yesterday at the company's branch in Matamoras, Pennsylvannia. A video obtained by investigators allegedly shows Shahzad buying fireworks at the shop

Caught on Camera: A still from a video allegedly shows Shahzad buying fireworks prior to the bombing attempt. Authorities say he used elements of the fireworks to rig up the Times Square SUV with explosives 

This CCTV footage shows the Nissan Pathfinder, loaded with explosives, being driven into Times Square shortly before it was abandoned

The U.S. Attorney General says there is evidence the Pakistani Taliban was behind the failed car bombing in New York’s Times Square.

American authorities had previously rejected claims by the group that it was behind the May 1 plot.

Naturalised American citizen Faisal Shahzad, who was born in Pakistan, is currently facing terrorism and weapons charges after authorities said he admitted rigging a car with explosives.

Appearing on ABC Television’s This Week, Eric Holder said: ‘We’ve now developed evidence that shows that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack.

‘We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it, and that [Shahzad] was working at their direction.’

He added there was nothing to suggest that the government of Pakistan was aware of the plot.

Today President Barack Obama’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser backed up the claims.


From a wealthy family: Shahzad and his wife pose for another New York tourist photo

Tourist: Suspected car-bomber Faisal Shahzad poses with friends for a photo in Times Square. Obtained by CBS News, it is believed to have been taken between 18 and 24 months ago

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today announced there was evidence that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the failed car bombing in New York's Times Square

Connecticut: The press lay siege to a house in Bridgeport, which FBI agents searched after Shahzad's arrest

Other home: A house said to belong to Shahzad's family in Pabbi, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan

Increased security: A police mobile observation tower in Times Square yesterday

John Brennan said that while the investigation is ongoing, ‘it looks like’ Shahzad was working for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

The militant group is believed to be hiding senior al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

Brennan, speaking on CNN's State of the Union, says the finding ‘underscores the serious threat that we face from a very determined enemy.’

Meanwhile a money courier who helped funnel cash from abroad to finance the plot is being tracked by U.S. investigators.

Authorities have the name of the courier, who they believe helped Shahzad pay for the used sport utility vehicle and other materials to rig up a car bomb that would have caused a huge fireball in the heart of New York.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official said investigators did not know how much money may have changed hands, but that Shahzad had reportedly paid for the used SUV with 13 $100 bills.

U.S. law enforcement officials travelled to Pakistan - where Shahzad spent five months before returning to the U.S. in February - to question four alleged members of an al-Qaeda-linked militant group.

Investigators are trying to trace his movements in his homeland, and were looking into the possible financing of the operation between the Pakistan-born budget analyst and foreign terror groups.

Two new surveillance videos have emerged of Shahzad. Police said one video shows him in a white baseball cap and a dark jacket walking away from the smoking, bomb-laden Nissan Pathfinder parked in the bustling heart of New York.

The second shows him buying a batch of fireworks in a store in Pennsylvania, which has been verified by the shop's owner.

Other pictures have been released showing Shahzad posing for a photo with a group of friends in Times Square less than two years before the car-bomb attempt.

Shahzad faces terrorism and weapons charges after authorities said he admitted rigging the Pathfinder with a crude bomb of firecrackers, propane and alarm clocks based on explosives training he received in Pakistan.

He was said to have been cooperating with investigators.

It is believed that Shahzad launched the bomb plot almost immediately after returning to his Connecticut home - where he lived with his wife Huma Mian, their children and his two sisters-in-law - in February from the visit to Pakistan.

He did a dry run three days before trying to detonate the car bomb, said an unnamed law enforcement official.

Shahzad drove the SUV to Times Square from Connecticut on April 28 apparently to figure out where would be the best place to leave it later, then returned to the area on April 30 to drop off a different vehicle, a black Isuzu, the official said.

He then went back on Saturday to leave the SUV with the car bomb but forgot the keys for both vehicles in the SUV and had to take public transport back home, the official said.

He returned to Times Square on Sunday with a second set of keys to pick up the Isuzu, which he had parked about eight blocks from the bombing site, the official said.

New York police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told a Senate panel that Shahzad bought the gun found in his Isuzu at Kennedy Airport in March, when he appeared to move ahead on the bombing plot.

'It appears from some of his other activities that March is when he decided to put this plan in motion,' Mr Kelly said.

'He came back from Pakistan on February 3, 2010. It may well have been an indicator of putting something catastrophic in motion.'

Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired air force official in Pakistan, waited two days after the failed bombing before driving to JFK airport and buying a one-way ticket to his native land.

By then the FBI team supposed to be following him had lost him.

Investigators only found out he was on board minutes before take-off when the final passenger list was sent to customs officials.

Despite the best efforts of highly trained investigators armed with the most advanced technology in the world, two simple security failings appear to have allowed Shahzad to come within minutes of escape.

First, he gave investigators tailing him since 3pm on Monday the slip.

Authorities believe he decided to flee after being spooked by news reports that investigators were seeking a Pakistani suspect in Connecticut.

The FBI and the New York Police Department declined to comment.

Second, Emirates officials - unaware that he had been placed on a no-fly list - did not check the web forum where the latest updates are posted in the minutes before take-off.

It was only thanks to a vigilant customs agent who spotted Shahzad's name on the flight manifest just 30 minutes before take-off that authorities knew he was on board the plane.

The Obama administration played down that Shahzad had made it aboard the plane.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano would not talk about it, other than to say Customs officials prevented the plane from taking off. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the security system has fallback procedures in place for times like this, and they worked.

The no-fly list is supposed to mean just that. And Shahzad's name was added to the list early Monday afternoon as a result of breaking developments in the investigation.

When Emirates sold the ticket, it was working off an outdated list. Airline officials would have had to check a web forum where updates are sent if it were to have flagged him.

Because they did not, law enforcement officials were not aware of his travel plans until they received the passenger list 30 minutes before take-off.

By that time, passengers usually are on board.

Gibbs blamed the airline but emphasized a more positive bottom line: U.S. authorities did get Shahzad on the no-fly list and he never took off.

'There's a series of built-in redundancies, this being one of them,' Gibbs said.

'If there's a mistake by a carrier, it can be double-checked.'

White House says Pakistan Taliban behind NY bomb

In this undated file photo from the social networking site Orkut.com, a man who was identified by neighbors in Connecticut as Faisal Shahzad, is shown. Shahzad was arrested at a New York airport on charges that he drove a bomb-laden SUV meant to cause a fireball in Times Square, federal authorities said. A day before driving the SUV with a rigged homemade bomb into Times Square, Shahzad made a test drive into the heart of the city, dropped off a getaway car blocks from his target and took a train home to Connecticut, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. Attorney General Eric Holder told a Senate hearing Thursday, May 6, 2010, that Shahzad has continued to answer questions after being read his constitutional rights, rejecting criticism that reading Shahzad his Miranda rights hindered investigators.

Citing newly obtained evidence, senior White House officials said Sunday that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the failed Times Square bombing.

The attempt marks the first time the group has been able to launch an attack on U.S. soil. And while U.S. officials have downplayed the threat — citing the bomb's lack of sophistication — the incident in Times Square and Christmas Day airline bomber indicate growing strength by overseas terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida even as the CIA says their operations are seriously degraded.



The finding also raises new questions about the U.S. relationship with Pakistan, which is widely known to have al-Qaida and other terrorist groups operating within its borders.

Attorney General Eric Holder said that new evidence shows that the Pakistani Taliban was "intimately involved" in the bombing plot. John Brennan, the president's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, made similar remarks, linking the bomber to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

The militant group is believed to be hiding senior al-Qaida leaders, including Osama bin Laden.

"We know that they helped facilitate it," said Holder. "We know that they probably helped finance it. And that he was working at their direction."

Faisal Shahzad, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, is accused of spending five months in Pakistan before returning to the United States in February and preparing his attack.

Shahzad has told investigators that he trained in the lawless tribal areas of Waziristan, where both al-Qaida and the Pakistani Taliban operate. He was arrested aboard an Emirates Airlines jet in New York just minutes before it was scheduled to take off for Dubai.

After the attack, U.S. officials said they were exploring potential links to terrorist groups overseas but said it was likely that Shahzad was acting alone.

Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, told NBC News that "at this point I have no information that it's anything other than a one-off." Likewise, Gen. David Petraeus told The Associated Press that Shahzad apparently operated as a "lone wolf."

Brennan on Sunday refuted suggestions that that the attempted bombing shows that terrorist groups overseas were gaining strength.

"They now are relegated to trying to do these unsophisticated attacks, showing that they have inept capabilities in training," he said.

The link between an attack on U.S. soil and terrorist groups operating inside Pakistan opens up a new chapter in relations between the two countries. Until recently, administration officials have said they thought Islamabad was doing all it could.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington expects more cooperation from Pakistan in fighting terrorism and warned of "severe consequences" if an attack on U.S. soil were traced back to the South Asian country.

Brennan said Islamabad was being very cooperative in the investigation but that the U.S. wants to know exactly who may have been helping Shahzad.

"There are a number of terrorist and militant groups operating in Pakistan," he said. "And we need to make sure there's no support being given to them by the Pakistani government."

Brennan would not say whether Shahzad may be connected to fugitive al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, other than to acknowledge his Internet sermons are popular among extremist Muslims.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Pakistan has recently stepped up efforts to root out extremist militants.

"The Pakistanis have been doing so much more than 18 months or two years ago any of us would have expected," Gates told reporters at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., this week.

He referred to Pakistani Army offensives, dating to spring 2009, against Taliban extremists in areas near the Afghan border, including in south Waziristan.

Gates said the Obama administration is sticking to its policy of offering to do as much training and other military activity inside Pakistan as the Pakistani government is willing to accept.

"It's their country," Gates said. "They remain in the driver's seat, and they have their foot on the accelerator."

Brennan spoke on CNN's "State of the Union," "Fox News Sunday" and CBS' "Face the Nation." Holder spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" and ABC's "This Week." Clinton's interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" is set to air Sunday.

'I was expecting you. Are you NYPD or FBI?' What failed Times Square bomber said as he was arrested on flight to Dubai

Family man: Faisal Shahzad, left, and with a woman thought to be his wife Huma Mian and one of their childre

A U.S. Department of Justice graphic showing the positioning of charges in the Nissan Pathfinder allegedly driven by Shahzad and left in Times Square on Saturday

This CCTV footage shows the Nissan Pathfinder, loaded with explosives, being driven into Times Square shortly before it was abandoned

The man accused of trying to bomb New York’s Times Square told officers who arrested him: ‘I was expecting you.’

Faisal Shahzad asked: ‘Are you NYPD or FBI?’, as he was seized from his seat on a plane that was about to leave JFK airport for Pakistan.

He tried to car-bomb New York in revenge for U.S. drone attacks that killed Taliban leaders, it was claimed yesterday.
A security row erupted after it emerged he gave a surveillance team the slip and was let on to the plane because of a bungle by airline staff.


Members of the media walk around a house in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where FBI agents had searched for Shahzad

Other home: A house said to belong to Shahzad's family in Pabbi, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan

Shahzad, 30, a naturalised U.S. citizen, had only recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan and has admitted receiving bomb-making training in a Taliban-controlled part of the country.

In court documents the father of two also admitted driving the Nissan SUV packed with a homemade ‘weapon of mass destruction’ to New York and priming it to explode last Saturday.

The New York Post reported he trained with the extremist Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and was radicalised because he saw first-hand the effects of U.S. bombing on fellow militants.

Shahzad waited two days after the failed bombing before driving to JFK and buying a one-way ticket to Pakistan.

By then the FBI team supposed to be following him had lost him.

Investigators only found out he was on board minutes before take-off when the final passenger list was sent to customs officials. U.S. officials last night said he was co-operating with investigators.

Despite the best efforts of highly trained investigators armed with the most advanced technology in the world, two simple security failings appear to have allowed Shahzad to come within minutes of escape.

First, he gave investigators tailing him since 3pm on Monday the slip.

Authorities believe he decided to flee after being spooked by news reports that investigators were seeking a Pakistani suspect in Connecticut.

The FBI and the New York Police Department declined to comment.

Second, Emirates officials - unaware that he had been placed on a no-fly list - did not check the Web forum where the latest updates are posted in the minutes before take-off.

It was only thanks to a vigilant customs agent who spotted Shahzad's name on the flight manifest just 30 minutes before take-off that authorities knew he was on board the plane.

The Obama administration played down that Shahzad had made it aboard the plane.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano would not talk about it, other than to say Customs officials prevented the plane from taking off. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the security system has fallback procedures in place for times like this, and they worked.

And Attorney General Eric Holder said he 'was never in any fear that we were in danger of losing him'.

The no-fly list is supposed to mean just that. And Shahzad's name was added to the list early Monday afternoon as a result of breaking developments in the investigation.

When Emirates sold the ticket, it was working off an outdated list. Airline officials would have had to check a Web forum where updates are sent if it were to have flagged him.

Because they did not, law enforcement officials were not aware of his travel plans until they received the passenger list 30 minutes before take-off.

By that time, passengers usually are on board.

Gibbs blamed the airline but emphasized a more positive bottom line: U.S. authorities did get Shahzad on the no-fly list and he never took off.

'There's a series of built-in redundancies, this being one of them,' Gibbs said.

'If there's a mistake by a carrier, it can be double-checked.'

The list is only as good as the nation's intelligence and the experts who analyse it.

If a lead is not shared, or if an analyst is unable to connect one piece of information to another, a terrorist could slip onto an aeroplane because his name is not on the watch list.

Officials allege that is just what took place ahead of the attempted December 25 attack on a U.S.-bound jet.

In the case of the Times Square suspect, the intelligence process worked: Shahzad's name was on the list, but the airlines did not check it when he bought his ticket.

More...

* Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad charged with attempted use of weapon of mass destruction

Shahzad went through normal airport security before he boarded the plane. He was unarmed and had no explosive material on him when he was arrested.

Emirates did not return repeated calls for comments.

Earlier yesterday, the company issued a general statement saying it was cooperating with investigators and takes every precaution to ensure its passengers' safety.

The reliance on airlines to check government lists has been a known problem for years.

The U.S. government has long planned to take over the responsibility for matching passengers to watch lists, but the transition has taken longer than expected.

The new program is still in the test phase for domestic airlines and is still months away from beginning with international carriers.
Last night Shahzad admitted trying to blow up a car bomb in New York's Times Square using explosives training he received in Pakistan.

The Pakistani-born U.S. citizen, who received citizenship in April of last year, was charged last night with terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in Saturday evening's failed Times Square bombing.

According to a federal complaint, he confessed to buying an SUV, rigging it with a homemade bomb and driving it into the busy area where he tried to detonate it.

He said he was recently taught how to make bombs on a visit to the Taliban-controlled area of Waziristan.

The father of two, 30, lived with his wife Huma Mian, their children and his two sisters-in-law in Connecticut, where neighbours said the family was very religious.

Mian had been spotted wearing a full burka while her husband, who gained U.S. citizenship last year, worked on Wall Street.

In court documents he admits driving the SUV packed with a homemade 'weapon of mass destruction' into New York and priming it to explode.

Pakistani authorities last night arrested several suspects linked to the plot, which the country's Taliban claimed responsibility for.

Shahzad also received four calls to his mobile from Pakistan in the days leading up to the attack on Saturday.

In the court documents, FBI Special Agent Andrew Pachtmansays: 'After his arrest, Shahzad stated he had recently received bomb-making training in Waziristan, Pakistan'

Shahzad bought the bomb truck, a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, for cash from a student over the internet a few weeks ago, then filled it with homemade explosives and drove to Times Square, prosecutors said.

Shahzad had not been seen at his job since the failed bombing, which was foiled when a street vendor spotted the car smoking.

The charges Shahzad faces include that he used a weapon of mass destruction, attempted to kill or maim, and tried to destroy buildings.

A law enforcement official said that Shahzad had effectively admitted to all the charges.

'He's admitted to buying the truck, putting the devices together, putting them in the truck, leaving the truck there and leaving the scene,' the source told Reuters.

'He's claimed to have acted alone. He did admit to all the charges, so to speak,' the source said, adding that investigators were still looking into his activities during a recent trip to Pakistan.

However investigators are not buying his story that he was a 'lone wolf'.

'Based on our collective experience it's hard to really believe that this is something someone would do on their own. It seems hard to pull off alone. There's a lot we don't know yet,' the source said.

Pakistani police have arrested several people in connection with the failed Times Square car bomb attack, security sources said.

'We have picked up a few family members' related to Faisal Shahzad, a security official in Karachi said. A friend of Shahzad was also arrested.

Shahzad had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan.

FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, said agent Kimberly Mertz.

Authorities removed filled plastic bags from the house, which is in a mixed-race, working-class neighbourhood of multi-family homes in Connecticut's largest city.

A bomb squad came and went without entering as local police and FBI agents gathered in the cordoned-off street.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said America 'will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice', suggesting additional suspects are being sought.

The bomb in the vehicle could have produced 'a significant fireball' and sprayed shrapnel with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows, police said.

The SUV was parked on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theatres, and full of people out on a Saturday night.

The vehicle identification number (VIN) had been removed from the Pathfinder's dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine, and investigators used it to find the recorded owner.
'The discovery of the VIN on the engine block was pivotal in that it led to the identifying the registered owner,' said Paul Browne, chief New York Police Department spokesman. 'It continues to pay dividends.'

Officials say the SUV's registered owner, whose name has not been released, is not considered a suspect in the bomb scare.

In Washington, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Saturday's attempted bombing was a terrorist act.

The motive remains unclear. The Pakistani Taliban appeared to claim responsibility for the bomb in three videos that surfaced after the weekend scare, monitoring groups said.

New York officials said police have no evidence to support the claims. It is unclear if the suspect in custody has any relationship to the group.

The SUV was parked near offices of Viacom, which owns Comedy Central. The network recently aired an episode of the animated show South Park that the militant group Revolution Muslim had complained insulted the Prophet Mohammed by depicting him in a bear costume.
Times Square, clogged with tourists on a warm evening, was shut down for 10 hours. A bomb squad dismantled the explosive device, and no one was hurt.

The explosive device had cheap-looking alarm clocks connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks, which were apparently intended to detonate the petrol cans and set the propane alight in a chain reaction, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

A metal rifle cabinet placed in the cargo area was packed with fertiliser, but bomb experts believe it was not a type volatile enough to explode like the ammonium nitrate grade fertiliser used in previous terrorist bombings.

The exact amount of fertiliser was unknown. Police estimated the cabinet weighed 200lb to 250lb when they pulled it from the vehicle.



Not long ago, Faisal Shahzad had a pretty enviable life: He became an American citizen after emigrating from Pakistan, where he came from a wealthy family.

He earned an MBA. He had a well-educated wife and two children and owned a house in a middle-class Connecticut suburb.

In the past couple of years, though, his life seemed to unravel: He left a job at a global marketing firm he'd held for three years, lost his home to foreclosure and moved into an apartment in an impoverished neighbourhood in Bridgeport.

Shahzad, 30, is the son of a former top Pakistani air force officer, according to Kifyat Ali, a cousin of Shahzad's father.

He came to the United States in late 1998 on a student visa.

He received a bachelor's degree in computer applications and information systems in 2000.

Shahzad was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers in 2002. He later returned to the University of Bridgeport to earn a master's in business administration, awarded in 2005.

He worked from mid-2006 to May 2009 as a junior financial analyst for the Affinion Group, a marketing firm in Norwalk.

In 2004, he and his wife, Huma Mian, bought a newly built home for $273,000.

Like her husband, Mian was well educated. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004 with a bachelor of science in business with an emphasis in accounting, the school said.

On her profile on the social networking site Orkut, she described herself as 'not political' and said she spoke English, Pashto, Urdu and French.

She listed her passions as 'fashion, shoes, bags, shopping!! And of course, Faisal.'

She posted a picture of Shahzad, smiling, with the caption, 'what can I say ... he's my everything'.

Last year, the couple abandoned the home, defaulting on the mortgage.

'It was like they just picked up everything they wanted and just left one day,' a neighbour said.

Authorities say Shahzad returned to Pakistan then came back to the United States, when he took an apartment in Bridgeport.