By Jill Colvin, Michael Ventura and Heather Grossmann
DNAinfo Staff
BRIDGEPORT, CONN. — A man arrested at JFK Airport while trying to flee the country admitted to authorities he tried to blow up Times Square — and had received bomb-making training in Pakistan, court documents released Tuesday said.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, a Connecticut man and American citizen born in Pakistan, said that he had received training in Waziristan — an area of Pakistan near the Afghan border notorious for its Taliban ties — during a five-month stay in 2009 and early 2010.
It was that training that apparently helped him devise a bomb out of fertilizer, gas, propane tanks, fireworks, an alarm clock and a $1,300 Nissan Pathfinder, which he admitted to prosecutors he left in Times Square when it was packed with tourists and theater-goers on Saturday night.
Luckily for New York City residents, Shahzad appeared to make a mistake when he was preparing the SUV and did not include ammonium nitrate, an ingredient that produces a dynamite-like explosion, law enforcement sources told FoxNews.com.
Shahzad's house keys and personal car keys were attached to the keychain found in the Pathfinder’s ignition, according to the federal complaint.
The fact that Shahzad was able to board the flight even though he was being sought in a terrorism investigation has raised red flags across national agencies. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said security lapses on the part of both the government and Emirates Airline allowed him to board the plane, the New York Times reported.
In a press conference in Washington D.C. Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Shahzad had admitted after his arrest that he intended to kill.
"We believe this suspected terrorist fashioned a bomb from rudimentary ingredients, placed it in a rusty SUV and drove it into Times Square with the intent to kill as many innocent tourists and theater-goers as possible," Holder said.
As of late Tuesday evening, Shahzad — who waved his Miranda Rights — was reportedly still openly speaking with authorities.
Pakistani authorities also reportedly arresting several people in Karachi in connection with the plot.
Shahzad used Craigslist to purchase the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder — the same vehicle used in the attempted bombing — on April 24, the same day he received several phone calls from Pakistan on his pre-paid cellular phone, the criminal complaint said. The same phone was used to call a fireworks store in Pennsylvania.
Shahzad purchased the car in the parking lot of a Conn. supermarket using 13 $100 bills and did not sign any paperwork, telling the seller he had his own plates.
When the car was purchased it did not have tinted windows, as it did when it was found after the attempted bombing, documents revealed.
Authorities believe Shahzad loaded the Pathfinder with gasoline, propane, clocks, fertilizer and fireworks and left it in Times Square with the intent of causing an explosion, court papers said.
The suspected terrorist drove a different car to the airport on Monday — an Isuzu Trooper SUV — which contained a gun, authorities said. Extra clips of ammo, a .9 mm Kal-Tec automatic pistol, a folding stock and a rifle barrel were recovered from the car, federal officials told the New York Times.
"New York can breathe a little easier today," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at the press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Kelly said the big break in the case came when an NYPD detective found the SUV's hidden Vehicle's Identification Number under the car. It was a case of "deja vu," Kelly said — the 1993 World Trade Center bombers were caught after the Ryder truck they used was traced using its hidden VIN.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, federal authorities in Bridgeport, Conn., searched a house on Sheriden Street they believed the terror suspect lived in.
FBI agents covered the back of the three-story dwelling with a blue tarp. Agents wearing purple gloves entered and exited the residence carrying evidence. Authorities found fertilizer and fireworks in Shahzad's garage, court papers said.
Neighbors told DNAinfo they started hearing sirens just before 2 a.m.
Kevin Charles, 18, who lives directly behind the house federal authorities were searching Monday morning, said he and his family saw law enforcement agents with guns drawn surround the house.
"We live right behind him. It was so crazy to hear that," Charles said. "It was like, 'Oh my God.' Somebody from Bridgeport. That's crazy, man."
Federal authorities were also looking into a Connecticut-based website that claimed to represent a faction of the Taliban in Pakistan, an unnamed source told the Daily News. The site went up last week, and claimed the attack within 24 hours of it being uncovered, the paper said.
Jill Colvin contributed reporting from Bridgeport, Conn.
