Faisal Shahzad
Encyclopedia
Faisal Shahzad is a Pakistani American
who attempted the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing
. On , 2010, in Federal District Court
in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt. Throughout his court appearance, Shahzad was unrepentant, and the United States attorney indicated there was no plea deal, so Shahzad faced the maximum sentence, a mandatory life term.
Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the attempt, at EDT
on , 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
officers. He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport
, after boarding Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai
. His final destination had been Islamabad, Pakistan.
A federal complaint was filed on , alleging that Shahzad committed five terrorism-related crimes, including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Shahzad waived his constitutional right to a speedy hearing.
Shahzad has reportedly implicated himself in the crimes, and has given information to authorities since his arrest after receiving Miranda warning
s. CBS News reported that Shahzad admitted training in bomb-making at a terrorist camp run by a militant Islamist faction in the Waziristan
region of Pakistan. As of , Shahzad was continuing to answer questions and provide intelligence to investigators. Over a dozen people were arrested by Pakistani officials in connection with the plot.
On October 5, 2010, Shahzad was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to a 10-count indictment in June, including charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism.
. He was born in Pakistan in either Kashmir
, Karachi
, or Pabbi (a village in Nowshera District
east of Peshawar). His father was born in the village of Mohib Banda (near Peshawar
). Pakistani government officials
said to Time
that Shahzad is of Kashmiri
descent. Forbes
reported that he is of Pashtun
extraction, and The New York Times
reported that he identified proudly with his tribal Pashtun heritage. He is the youngest of four children.
Time
opined that his family's background in northwestern Pakistan meant that he likely spoke Pashto
, a rare asset in the training camps compared to other Western volunteers. Faiz Ahmed, a former mayor in Mohib Banda – his ancestral home – and a close friend of his father, said in this regard in an interview with National Public Radio: "This is a tragedy for me and every Pakistani, every Pashtun." Shahzad comes from a wealthy, well-educated family in northwest Pakistan. His father, Baharul Haq, lives in the Hayatabad
suburb of Peshawar. His father was a senior official in the Pakistan Air Force
, holding the rank of Air Vice-Marshal
(the equivalent of a two-star general) before leaving the air force in 1992, and is a deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan.
He had begun as a common airman, but became a fighter pilot excelling in aerobatics, and was posted in England and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Shahzad attended primary school in Saudi Arabia, according to documents found outside his Shelton home, and then attended several schools in Pakistan. In high school, he received Ds in English composition and microeconomics.
He then enrolled in Greenwich University, a Karachi business school, where he was a mediocre student. He had servants, chauffeurs, and armed guards. He has a Pakistani identification card issued by the National Database and Registration Authority
(NADRA) stating that he is a resident of Karachi. Kifayat Ali, a man who said he is a cousin of Shahzad's father, insisted that Shahzad's family had no political affiliations, adding that the arrest appeared as a "conspiracy so that the [Americans] can bomb more Pashtuns", and that Shahzad "was never linked to any political or religious party [in Pakistan]".
Shahzad studied for five semesters in 1997 and 1998 at the now-defunct Southeastern University in Washington, D.C.
, where he took mostly business classes, receiving several Cs and Ds, an F in basic statistics, and a grade point average of 2.78. In December 1998 he was granted an F-1 student visa. In 1999 he was placed on a US Customs (later merged into DHS
) travel lookout list called the "Traveler Enforcement Compliance System".
In 2000 he transferred to the University of Bridgeport
, where more than a third of the students were foreign students. Shahzad's former teachers at the University of Bridgeport said he appeared to be quiet and unremarkable. On weekends, he would go to Bengali-theme nightclubs in New York City. A classmate remembered him watching news footage of the planes hitting the Twin Towers in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and saying: "They had it coming." He received a B.A. in computer applications and information systems, with his parents attending his graduation on , 2002. Just before graduation, in April 2002, he was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers. He remained in the U.S. for three years on that visa, earning an M.B.A
at the University of Bridgeport
in 2005.
Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst
in the accounting department at the Elizabeth Arden
cosmetics company in Stamford, Connecticut
, while he was still working on his master's degree from January 2002 and until , 2006, when he resigned to work elsewhere. He complained to his friends that the company never raised his salary above $50,000.
On December 24, 2004, in an arranged marriage
in Peshawar, Pakistan, he married Huma Asif Mian, a Pashtun Colorado-born U.S. citizen who had just graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in Accounting. She and her Pakistani-born parents had lived in Qatar
and Colorado; her parents now live in Saudi Arabia. A neighbor recalled Shahzad visited the family only once before she joined him in Connecticut. On her social networking page, Shahzad's wife lists her languages as English
, Pashto
, Urdu
, and French
, her religion as Muslim and her political view as "nonpolitical." Her father, Mohammad Asif Mian, is a petroleum engineering expert who has written a number of books and technical manuals, including a best-selling book on Project Economics and Decision Analysis, worked for companies such as Saudi Aramco
and Qatar General Petroleum, and has two master's degrees from Colorado School of Mines
. After Shahzad was arrested, his father-in-law said: "to go to this extreme, this is unbelievable. He has lovely children. Two really lovely children. As a father I would not be able to afford to lose my children."
He bought a black Mercedes in 2002, as well as a condominium in Norwalk, Connecticut, for $205,000 which he sold in May 2004 to computer consultant George LaMonica for a $56,000 profit. LaMonica was interviewed afterward by investigators from the national Joint Terrorism Task Force, regarding details of the transactions and information about Shahzad.
Shahzad was granted a permanent residence status (a "green card") in January 2006. He bought a new single-family three-bedroom home in Shelton, Connecticut
, just outside Bridgeport in 2006, at which the family lived. From mid-June 2006 to June 2009, Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst
, a position he told a friend paid $70,000, for Affinion Group, an affinity marketing
and consulting business then located at 100 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut
.
He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen on , 2009. A few weeks later, he abruptly quit his job and stopped making payments on his house, defaulting on the $218,400 mortgage. The New York Times observed: "[w]hile in recent years Mr. Shahzad struggled to pay his bills, it is unclear that his financial hardship played a significant role in his radicalization. He still owned his home and held a full-time job when he began signaling to friends that he wanted to leave the United States." His marriage became strained in 2009 as he pressured his wife to wear a hijab
and insisted that the family return to Pakistan while he searched for a job in the Middle East. On , he telephoned his wife from JFK Airport, saying he was leaving for Pakistan, and it was her choice whether or not to follow him. She refused, and instead went with their two children to live in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia with her parents.
He then defaulted on his mortgage, and was sued by the bank in September 2009 as it foreclosed on his home.
The New York Times reported that on , 2006, Shahzad sent a long e-mail message to a number of friends. Writing that he understood that Islam forbids killing innocents, he asked those who insisted only on "peaceful protest":
In 2008, while in Pakistan, he asked his father for permission to fight in Afghanistan, but his father denied his request. In April 2009 he e-mailed friends his criticism of the views of a moderate Pakistani politician, writing that the politician had "bought into the Western jargon" of calling the mujahedeen "extremist", and urging his friends to find "a proper Sheikh to understand the Quran". Asked which sheikhs he followed, he said: "My sheikhs are in the field." He also wrote: "Allah commands about fighting for Islam."
, a gateway to the militant-occupied tribal regions of Pakistan
and stayed there from to . While in Pakistan, he said he trained at a terrorist training camp in what was believed to be Waziristan
, according to law enforcement officials.
Shahzad's most recent stay in Pakistan lasted for five months; he returned to the U.S. on , 2010, on an Emirates flight from Dubai.
Shahzad was believed to have bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder
which was used in the car bomb attempt within three weeks prior to the incident. The vehicle was purchased through an ad on Craigslist
, for $1,300 which Shahzad reportedly paid a Connecticut woman for in $100 bills. The money was paid and the car turned over at a Connecticut shopping center, without any formal paperwork being exchanged.
on , 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
officers. He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport
, as he sat on board Emirate Airlines Flight 202 to Dubai
after his flight came within moments of taking off but was recalled to the gate. His final destination was to have been Islamabad, Pakistan.
Lapses in security allowed Shahzad to board the plane. He had been placed on the no-fly list on Monday, at when investigators became more certain he was a suspect. Investigators then lost track of Shahzad before he drove to the airport on the evening of , and did not know he was planning to leave the country. Emirates airline agents did not check the no-fly list for added names at when Shahzad made a reservation, or at when he purchased the ticket at JFK airport with cash. Shahzad was later allowed to board the plane. However, a routine post boarding check at revealed that Shahzad was on the no-fly list. Within minutes, agents recalled the plane to the gate, boarded the plane and arrested him.
Shortly after the arrest, Attorney General Holder said "Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country". Holder later said that Shahzad had admitted involvement in the incident, and that Shahzad was providing useful information.
According to Deputy FBI Director John Pistole, Shahzad was initially interrogated under the public safety exception to the Miranda rule, cooperated with authorities, and was later read his Miranda rights
. He continued to cooperate and provide information after he was read the rights.
The FBI and NYPD searched Shahzad's Bridgeport, Connecticut
, home on , at Sheridan Street and Boston Avenue, removing filled plastic bags. Materials related to the bomb were found in his apartment, including boxes that had contained the alarm clocks, and his car at the airport had a 9 mm Kel-Tec SUB-2000
carbine with five full magazines of ammunition, according to law enforcement officials.
The complaint filed in federal court on , 2010 charges Shahzad with five counts of terrorism-related crimes: 1) Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, 2) Attempting to kill and maim people in the U.S., 3) Using and carrying a destructive device, 4) Transporting an explosive device, and, 5) Attempting to damage building, vehicles, and other property. He faced up to life in prison.
On May 9, Attorney General Eric Holder
announced pending Obama Administration Miranda-warning legislation in the context of the Shahzad case. On , Shahzad pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.
As of June 2010, Shahzad, Federal Bureau of Prisons
#63510-054, was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City
.
, a California Democrat, said Pakistani officials arrested "alleged facilitators" as part of a "far broader investigation".
According to the Wall Street Journal, Shahzad received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban are made up overwhelmingly of Pashtun tribesmen. According to CBS News, Shahzad has been on the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list since 1999 because he has been bringing in large amounts of cash (approximately $80,000) into the United States.
United States Attorney General
Eric Holder
stated "the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack. We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it and that he was working at their direction".
Shahzad told interrogators that he was "inspired by" radical Anwar al-Awlaki
to take up the cause of al-Qaeda. Shahzad made contact over the internet with al-Awlaki, the Pakistani Taliban's Baitullah Mehsud
(who was killed in a drone strike in 2009), and a web of jihadists, ABC News reported.
According to a report of Al-Arabiya, Shahzad had recorded a suicide video
in which he declared that he planned the attack as revenge for the U.S. war in Afghanistan
. In this video, that was made before the attempted attack, Shahzad was dressed in traditional and tribal Pashtun clothing and was seen sitting with an assault rifle. In his message he praised Baitullah Mehsud
, the Pakistani Taliban leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in August 2009, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
, the founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq who died at the hands of U.S. led-troops in 2006, as "martyrs".
"The attack on the United States will be a revenge for all the mujahedeen and oppressed Muslims," Shahzad said in the tape, according to Al-Arabiya. "Eight years have passed since the Afghanistan war and you shall see how the Muslim war has just begun and how Islam will spread across the world."
Shahzad, wearing a white prayer cap, smiled and said "Allahu Akbar" after hearing his sentence, and said he would "sacrifice a thousand lives for Allah
." He predicted that "War with Muslims has just begun," and that "the defeat of the US is imminent, inshallah
[God willing]."
When asked by the judge at his trial as to how he could justify planting a bomb near innocent women and children, Shahzad responded by saying that US drone strikes "don't see children, they don't see anybody. They kill women, children, they kill everybody."
Shahzad is currently serving his life sentence at ADX Florence
, a supermax
facility where the most dangerous inmates in the federal prison system are held. It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex
in Colorado
.
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
who attempted the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing
2010 Times Square car bombing attempt
The attempted car bombing of Times Square on May 1, 2010, was a planned terrorist attack that was foiled when two street vendors discovered the car bomb and alerted a NYPD Patrolman to the car bomb threat after they spotted smoke coming from a vehicle...
. On , 2010, in Federal District Court
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt. Throughout his court appearance, Shahzad was unrepentant, and the United States attorney indicated there was no plea deal, so Shahzad faced the maximum sentence, a mandatory life term.
Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the attempt, at EDT
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
on , 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
officers. He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
, after boarding Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
. His final destination had been Islamabad, Pakistan.
A federal complaint was filed on , alleging that Shahzad committed five terrorism-related crimes, including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. Shahzad waived his constitutional right to a speedy hearing.
Shahzad has reportedly implicated himself in the crimes, and has given information to authorities since his arrest after receiving Miranda warning
Miranda warning
The Miranda warning is a warning given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements against them in criminal proceedings. In Miranda v...
s. CBS News reported that Shahzad admitted training in bomb-making at a terrorist camp run by a militant Islamist faction in the Waziristan
Waziristan
Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...
region of Pakistan. As of , Shahzad was continuing to answer questions and provide intelligence to investigators. Over a dozen people were arrested by Pakistani officials in connection with the plot.
On October 5, 2010, Shahzad was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to a 10-count indictment in June, including charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of terrorism.
Background
Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizenCitizenship in the United States
Citizenship in the United States is a status given to individuals that entails specific rights, duties, privileges, and benefits between the United States and the individual...
. He was born in Pakistan in either Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
, Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, or Pabbi (a village in Nowshera District
Nowshera District
Nowshera is a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan - the principal city is Nowshera. Nowshera District is divided into 47 Union Councils and 5 provincial seats....
east of Peshawar). His father was born in the village of Mohib Banda (near Peshawar
Peshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
). Pakistani government officials
Government of Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan is a federal parliamentary system, with an indirectly-elected President as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Armed Forces, and an indirectly-elected Prime Minister as the Head of Government. The President’s appointment and term are...
said to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
that Shahzad is of Kashmiri
Kashmiri people
The Kashmiri people are a Dardic linguistic group living in Kashmir Valley in Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Pakistani territory of Azad Kashmir who speak the Kashmiri language...
descent. Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
reported that he is of Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
extraction, and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that he identified proudly with his tribal Pashtun heritage. He is the youngest of four children.
Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
opined that his family's background in northwestern Pakistan meant that he likely spoke Pashto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, a rare asset in the training camps compared to other Western volunteers. Faiz Ahmed, a former mayor in Mohib Banda – his ancestral home – and a close friend of his father, said in this regard in an interview with National Public Radio: "This is a tragedy for me and every Pakistani, every Pashtun." Shahzad comes from a wealthy, well-educated family in northwest Pakistan. His father, Baharul Haq, lives in the Hayatabad
Hayatabad
Hayatabad is a posh, modern suburb on the south-western fringe of Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It was named after Hayat Sherpao late Governor of NWFP & notable leader of Pakistan Peoples Party...
suburb of Peshawar. His father was a senior official in the Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...
, holding the rank of Air Vice-Marshal
Air Vice-Marshal
Air vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in...
(the equivalent of a two-star general) before leaving the air force in 1992, and is a deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan.
He had begun as a common airman, but became a fighter pilot excelling in aerobatics, and was posted in England and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Shahzad attended primary school in Saudi Arabia, according to documents found outside his Shelton home, and then attended several schools in Pakistan. In high school, he received Ds in English composition and microeconomics.
He then enrolled in Greenwich University, a Karachi business school, where he was a mediocre student. He had servants, chauffeurs, and armed guards. He has a Pakistani identification card issued by the National Database and Registration Authority
National Database and Registration Authority
National Database and Registration Authority is a federal department of the Government of Pakistan that is responsible for issuing identification cards to the citizens of Pakistan. Employing more than 11,000 member of staff and having more than 400 domestic offices and five international offices,...
(NADRA) stating that he is a resident of Karachi. Kifayat Ali, a man who said he is a cousin of Shahzad's father, insisted that Shahzad's family had no political affiliations, adding that the arrest appeared as a "conspiracy so that the [Americans] can bomb more Pashtuns", and that Shahzad "was never linked to any political or religious party [in Pakistan]".
Shahzad studied for five semesters in 1997 and 1998 at the now-defunct Southeastern University in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where he took mostly business classes, receiving several Cs and Ds, an F in basic statistics, and a grade point average of 2.78. In December 1998 he was granted an F-1 student visa. In 1999 he was placed on a US Customs (later merged into DHS
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
) travel lookout list called the "Traveler Enforcement Compliance System".
In 2000 he transferred to the University of Bridgeport
University of Bridgeport
The University of Bridgeport is a private, independent, non-sectarian, coeducational university located on the Long Island Sound in the South End neighborhood of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The University is fully Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges...
, where more than a third of the students were foreign students. Shahzad's former teachers at the University of Bridgeport said he appeared to be quiet and unremarkable. On weekends, he would go to Bengali-theme nightclubs in New York City. A classmate remembered him watching news footage of the planes hitting the Twin Towers in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and saying: "They had it coming." He received a B.A. in computer applications and information systems, with his parents attending his graduation on , 2002. Just before graduation, in April 2002, he was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers. He remained in the U.S. for three years on that visa, earning an M.B.A
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
at the University of Bridgeport
University of Bridgeport
The University of Bridgeport is a private, independent, non-sectarian, coeducational university located on the Long Island Sound in the South End neighborhood of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The University is fully Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges...
in 2005.
Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst
Financial analyst
A financial analyst, securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, or investment analyst is a person who performs financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core part of the job.-Job:...
in the accounting department at the Elizabeth Arden
Fabergé (cosmetics)
-History:The American oil billionaire Armand Hammer collected many Fabergé pieces during his business ventures in communist Russia in the 1920s. In 1937, Armand Hammer’s friend Samuel Rubin, owner of the Spanish Trading Corporation which imported soap and olive oil, closed down his company because...
cosmetics company in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, while he was still working on his master's degree from January 2002 and until , 2006, when he resigned to work elsewhere. He complained to his friends that the company never raised his salary above $50,000.
On December 24, 2004, in an arranged marriage
Arranged marriage
An arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
in Peshawar, Pakistan, he married Huma Asif Mian, a Pashtun Colorado-born U.S. citizen who had just graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in Accounting. She and her Pakistani-born parents had lived in Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
and Colorado; her parents now live in Saudi Arabia. A neighbor recalled Shahzad visited the family only once before she joined him in Connecticut. On her social networking page, Shahzad's wife lists her languages as English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Pashto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
, and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, her religion as Muslim and her political view as "nonpolitical." Her father, Mohammad Asif Mian, is a petroleum engineering expert who has written a number of books and technical manuals, including a best-selling book on Project Economics and Decision Analysis, worked for companies such as Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco , officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.Saudi Aramco is the world's largest and most valuable privately-held company, with estimates of its value in 2011 to be $7 trillion USD.Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves,...
and Qatar General Petroleum, and has two master's degrees from Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines is a small public teaching and research university devoted to engineering and applied science, with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources. Located in Golden, Colorado, CSM was ranked 29th, in America among national...
. After Shahzad was arrested, his father-in-law said: "to go to this extreme, this is unbelievable. He has lovely children. Two really lovely children. As a father I would not be able to afford to lose my children."
He bought a black Mercedes in 2002, as well as a condominium in Norwalk, Connecticut, for $205,000 which he sold in May 2004 to computer consultant George LaMonica for a $56,000 profit. LaMonica was interviewed afterward by investigators from the national Joint Terrorism Task Force, regarding details of the transactions and information about Shahzad.
Shahzad was granted a permanent residence status (a "green card") in January 2006. He bought a new single-family three-bedroom home in Shelton, Connecticut
Shelton, Connecticut
Shelton is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,559 at the 2010 census.-Origins:Shelton was settled by the English as part of the town of Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639...
, just outside Bridgeport in 2006, at which the family lived. From mid-June 2006 to June 2009, Shahzad worked as a junior financial analyst
Financial analyst
A financial analyst, securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, or investment analyst is a person who performs financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core part of the job.-Job:...
, a position he told a friend paid $70,000, for Affinion Group, an affinity marketing
Affinity marketing
Affinity Marketing is a targeted way of marketing products and services. By linking complementary brands, it can develop them into lasting partnerships and strategic alliances.- Development of Affinity Marketing :...
and consulting business then located at 100 Connecticut Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk, Connecticut
Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population of the city is 85,603, making Norwalk sixth in population in Connecticut, and third in Fairfield County...
.
He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen on , 2009. A few weeks later, he abruptly quit his job and stopped making payments on his house, defaulting on the $218,400 mortgage. The New York Times observed: "[w]hile in recent years Mr. Shahzad struggled to pay his bills, it is unclear that his financial hardship played a significant role in his radicalization. He still owned his home and held a full-time job when he began signaling to friends that he wanted to leave the United States." His marriage became strained in 2009 as he pressured his wife to wear a hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
and insisted that the family return to Pakistan while he searched for a job in the Middle East. On , he telephoned his wife from JFK Airport, saying he was leaving for Pakistan, and it was her choice whether or not to follow him. She refused, and instead went with their two children to live in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia with her parents.
He then defaulted on his mortgage, and was sued by the bank in September 2009 as it foreclosed on his home.
The New York Times reported that on , 2006, Shahzad sent a long e-mail message to a number of friends. Writing that he understood that Islam forbids killing innocents, he asked those who insisted only on "peaceful protest":
Can you tell me a way to save the oppressed? And a way to fight back when rockets are fired at us and Muslim blood flows? Everyone knows how the Muslim country bows down to pressure from west. Everyone knows the kind of humiliation we are faced with around the globe.That year he began to become more religious. He began to pray five times a day, at mosques in Stamford, Norwalk, and Bridgeport.
In 2008, while in Pakistan, he asked his father for permission to fight in Afghanistan, but his father denied his request. In April 2009 he e-mailed friends his criticism of the views of a moderate Pakistani politician, writing that the politician had "bought into the Western jargon" of calling the mujahedeen "extremist", and urging his friends to find "a proper Sheikh to understand the Quran". Asked which sheikhs he followed, he said: "My sheikhs are in the field." He also wrote: "Allah commands about fighting for Islam."
Reported preparations
On July 3, 2009, he reportedly traveled to Pakistan and is believed to have visited PeshawarPeshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, a gateway to the militant-occupied tribal regions of Pakistan
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas are a semi-autonomous tribal region in the northwest of Pakistan, lying between the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and the neighboring country of Afghanistan. The FATA comprise seven Agencies and six FRs...
and stayed there from to . While in Pakistan, he said he trained at a terrorist training camp in what was believed to be Waziristan
Waziristan
Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...
, according to law enforcement officials.
Shahzad's most recent stay in Pakistan lasted for five months; he returned to the U.S. on , 2010, on an Emirates flight from Dubai.
Shahzad was believed to have bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder
Nissan Pathfinder
The Nissan Pathfinder is a SUV manufactured by Nissan Motors since 1986, derived from Nissan's compact pickup truck platform. The Pathfinder is slotted in size between the Murano and Armada or Patrol, but in price between the Xterra and Murano...
which was used in the car bomb attempt within three weeks prior to the incident. The vehicle was purchased through an ad on Craigslist
Craigslist
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities featuring free online classified advertisements, with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums....
, for $1,300 which Shahzad reportedly paid a Connecticut woman for in $100 bills. The money was paid and the car turned over at a Connecticut shopping center, without any formal paperwork being exchanged.
Arrest and charges
Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the incident, at EDTEastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
on , 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security charged with regulating and facilitating international trade, collecting import duties, and enforcing U.S. regulations, including trade, customs and immigration. CBP is the...
officers. He was taken into custody at John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
, as he sat on board Emirate Airlines Flight 202 to Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
after his flight came within moments of taking off but was recalled to the gate. His final destination was to have been Islamabad, Pakistan.
Lapses in security allowed Shahzad to board the plane. He had been placed on the no-fly list on Monday, at when investigators became more certain he was a suspect. Investigators then lost track of Shahzad before he drove to the airport on the evening of , and did not know he was planning to leave the country. Emirates airline agents did not check the no-fly list for added names at when Shahzad made a reservation, or at when he purchased the ticket at JFK airport with cash. Shahzad was later allowed to board the plane. However, a routine post boarding check at revealed that Shahzad was on the no-fly list. Within minutes, agents recalled the plane to the gate, boarded the plane and arrested him.
Shortly after the arrest, Attorney General Holder said "Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this was a terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans in one of the busiest places in our country". Holder later said that Shahzad had admitted involvement in the incident, and that Shahzad was providing useful information.
According to Deputy FBI Director John Pistole, Shahzad was initially interrogated under the public safety exception to the Miranda rule, cooperated with authorities, and was later read his Miranda rights
Miranda warning
The Miranda warning is a warning given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements against them in criminal proceedings. In Miranda v...
. He continued to cooperate and provide information after he was read the rights.
The FBI and NYPD searched Shahzad's Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
, home on , at Sheridan Street and Boston Avenue, removing filled plastic bags. Materials related to the bomb were found in his apartment, including boxes that had contained the alarm clocks, and his car at the airport had a 9 mm Kel-Tec SUB-2000
Kel-Tec SUB-2000
The SUB-2000 is a pistol-caliber carbine manufactured by Kel-Tec CNC Industries of Cocoa, Florida, United States. The rifle is a blowback operated, semi-automatic firearm with its operating spring located in the tubular stock....
carbine with five full magazines of ammunition, according to law enforcement officials.
The complaint filed in federal court on , 2010 charges Shahzad with five counts of terrorism-related crimes: 1) Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, 2) Attempting to kill and maim people in the U.S., 3) Using and carrying a destructive device, 4) Transporting an explosive device, and, 5) Attempting to damage building, vehicles, and other property. He faced up to life in prison.
On May 9, Attorney General Eric Holder
Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
announced pending Obama Administration Miranda-warning legislation in the context of the Shahzad case. On , Shahzad pleaded guilty to all the charges against him.
As of June 2010, Shahzad, Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
#63510-054, was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City
Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York City is a Federal Bureau of Prisons remand center in downtown Manhattan in New York City, located on Park Row behind the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse at Foley Square....
.
International ties and investigation
It was reported that Pakistani authorities arrested a number of suspects in the investigation of the attempted car bombing, including two or three people at a house where Shahzad is said to have stayed. Pakistani intelligence officials said a man named Tauseef, who was a friend of Shahzad, was detained in Karachi in connection with the case. Representative Jane HarmanJane Harman
Jane Margaret Lakes Harman is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
, a California Democrat, said Pakistani officials arrested "alleged facilitators" as part of a "far broader investigation".
According to the Wall Street Journal, Shahzad received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban are made up overwhelmingly of Pashtun tribesmen. According to CBS News, Shahzad has been on the Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list since 1999 because he has been bringing in large amounts of cash (approximately $80,000) into the United States.
United States Attorney General
United States Attorney General
The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...
Eric Holder
Eric Holder
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. is the 82nd and current Attorney General of the United States and the first African American to hold the position, serving under President Barack Obama....
stated "the Pakistani Taliban was behind the attack. We know that they helped facilitate it. We know that they probably helped finance it and that he was working at their direction".
Shahzad told interrogators that he was "inspired by" radical Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
to take up the cause of al-Qaeda. Shahzad made contact over the internet with al-Awlaki, the Pakistani Taliban's Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...
(who was killed in a drone strike in 2009), and a web of jihadists, ABC News reported.
According to a report of Al-Arabiya, Shahzad had recorded a suicide video
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
in which he declared that he planned the attack as revenge for the U.S. war in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...
. In this video, that was made before the attempted attack, Shahzad was dressed in traditional and tribal Pashtun clothing and was seen sitting with an assault rifle. In his message he praised Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud
Baitullah Mehsud was a leading militant in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan . He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant groups in December 2007. He is thought by U.S...
, the Pakistani Taliban leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in August 2009, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh was a Jordanian militant Islamist who ran a paramilitary training camp in Afghanistan...
, the founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq who died at the hands of U.S. led-troops in 2006, as "martyrs".
"The attack on the United States will be a revenge for all the mujahedeen and oppressed Muslims," Shahzad said in the tape, according to Al-Arabiya. "Eight years have passed since the Afghanistan war and you shall see how the Muslim war has just begun and how Islam will spread across the world."
Conviction
On October 5, 2010, Shahzad was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole by a federal judge in New York City. When asked by the judge "Didn't you swear allegiance to this country?" Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen replied, "I sweared, but I didn't mean it."Shahzad, wearing a white prayer cap, smiled and said "Allahu Akbar" after hearing his sentence, and said he would "sacrifice a thousand lives for Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
." He predicted that "War with Muslims has just begun," and that "the defeat of the US is imminent, inshallah
Inshallah
The word Inshallah , also spelt in various other ways, , is a transliteration of Insha'Allah, meaning "God willing"....
[God willing]."
When asked by the judge at his trial as to how he could justify planting a bomb near innocent women and children, Shahzad responded by saying that US drone strikes "don't see children, they don't see anybody. They kill women, children, they kill everybody."
Shahzad is currently serving his life sentence at ADX Florence
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison for men that is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies...
, a supermax
Supermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
facility where the most dangerous inmates in the federal prison system are held. It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex
Florence Federal Correctional Complex
The Florence Federal Correctional Complex, located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, south of Florence. The complex is south of Denver and Colorado Springs and west of Pueblo on State Highway 67. The complex was opened in 1994...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
.
See also
- David HeadleyDavid HeadleyDavid Coleman Headley, formerly known as Daood Sayed Gilani, is a Chicago-based Pakistani American,who conspired with Lashkar-e-Taibaand, he claims, Pakistani military officers...
, Chicago-based Pakistani-American, and half-brother of Pakistani Prime Minister's spokesman, made contact with al-Qaeda during trips to Waziristan and conspired with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani ex-military officers to launch the 2008 Mumbai attacks2008 Mumbai attacksThe 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
and other terrorist activity - Aafia SiddiquiAafia SiddiquiAafia Siddiqui is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison; in September 2010, she was sentenced by a United States district court to 86...
, U.S.-educated Pakistani alleged al-Qaeda member, arrested in Afghanistan with bomb-making documents and convicted in February 2010 of attempted murder and armed assault - Najibullah ZaziNajibullah ZaziNajibullah Zazi is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. Al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City subway system, and has pled guilty as have two other defendants. U.S...
, U.S. resident and al-Qaeda member, pleaded guilty in 2010 of planning suicide bombings of New York City subway - Operation Arabian KnightOperation Arabian KnightOn June 5, 2010, in a covert anti-terrorism operation named "Operation Arabian Knight", Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos "Omar" Eduardo Almonte, two Muslim men from New Jersey, were arrested at Kennedy International Airport in New York City...
, 2010 arrest of two Muslim men from New Jersey on terrorism charges - 2009 detention of Americans by Pakistan2009 detention of Americans by PakistanFive Muslim Americans with suspected ties to terrorism were detained on December 9, 2009, in Pakistan. The five men, part of an increasing trend in homegrown terrorism, in their late teens to early twenties and from the Washington, D.C., suburbs, were detained during a police raid on a house with...
, five Muslim Americans charged by Pakistan in 2010 with terrorism-related offenses - Farooque AhmedFarooque AhmedFarooque Ahmed is a Pakistani American from Ashburn, Virginia who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly plotting to bomb Washington Metro stations at Arlington cemetery, Pentagon City, Crystal City and Court House...
, Pakistani American arrested for plotting bombing of Washington MetroWashington MetroThe Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name... - Homegrown terrorismHomegrown terrorismHomegrown terrorism is commonly associated with an international organization rather than being a ‘lone wolf’ act committed by isolated and disturbed individuals. It constitutes terrorist attacks from within the target nation, often Western...
External links
- Extensive background information on Shahzad conviction and related cases, The Hague Justice Portal
- Video:Al Arabiya airs failed Times Square bomber tape, Al ArabiyaAl ArabiyaAl Arabiya is a Pan-Arabist Saudi-owned Arabic-language television news channel. Launched on March 3, 2003, the channel is based in Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates, and is majority-owned by the Saudi broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Center ....
- "Faisal Shahzad Facebook mixup highlights hazards of Web journalism", The Christian Science Monitor, , 2010
- Links to U.S. statutes cited in criminal complaint of , 2010