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Faisal Shahzad Used Inferior Bomb Ingredients to Avoid Being Caught, Raymond Kelly Says

By Ben Fractenberg | July 21, 2010 10:33am
Mug shot of Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad.
Mug shot of Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad.
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U.S. Marshals Service

By Ben Fractenberg

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

TIMES SQUARE — Failed Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, deliberately bought weak bomb-making ingredients to avoid detection by authorities, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday.

"He tried to lessen the explosive nature of the fertilizer that was used because he thought he would get a higher profile as he went to buy it,'' Kelly said during a speech to the Center for National Policy, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Shahzad packed his Nissan Pathfinder with non-explosive fertilizer as well as M-88 firecrackers, both of which failed to detonate in Times Square on May 1.

Despite the weaker ingredients, the bomb "would have killed thousands of people" if it had been rigged correctly, a secret FBI test revealed, according to the New York Post.