Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Times Square Bomb Suspect Arrested
Aired May 04, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It's 6:00 here in New York City. We're following breaking news and we have been throughout the night here on CNN. The latest on a suspect under arrest in connection with the terror plot in Times Square.
Good morning to you, I'm Kiran Chetry.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Acosta in for John Roberts. A lot of developments to bring you from what happened overnight. We begin with the breaking news of the hour.
A suspect has been arrested in that failed attempt to set off a car bomb in Times Square this weekend. He's been identified as 30- year-old Faisal Shahzad. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan.
CHETRY: Federal officials say that he was taken into custody at JFK Airport late last night after he was already on board a flight headed to Dubai. And while CNN has learned the suspect claims that he acted alone, there may be others involved. Attorney General Eric Holder announcing earlier this morning, the investigation is continuing. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We continue to gather leads in this investigation, and it's important that the American people remain vigilant. The intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans. The American people should know that we are deploying every resource available, and we will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And we want to show you some live pictures now of that Emirates jet standing there at the runway at JFK Airport courtesy of our affiliate WABC here in New York. That is the plane, Kiran, that authorities tell us was pulling away from the jet bridge with the suspect, Faisal Shahzad, on board getting ready to leave on a departing flight to Dubai.
CHETRY: Yes, the reason I think we're getting a shot of it right now -- ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: -- is because it's looking that it's supposed to take off now. This was a flight that was originally set to leave at 11:30 p.m. last night.
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: That continued to get pushed back, obviously, because of the ongoing investigation. It was Flight 202. And last we heard, it was supposed to depart at 6:00 a.m. Obviously, we're about a minute after that right now.
ACOSTA: That's right. And there is a story out of the "Wall Street Journal" this morning that the authorities have tried to talk to a few of the passengers on that plane. And we're also checking our sources to verify that, check into that.
Our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is in Washington with everything we know right now about Faisal Shahzad. Deb Feyerick is in Connecticut, where police swarmed a home this morning. That's believed to be the last known address of the suspect.
CHETRY: And we begin, though, with Jason Carroll. He is standing by live this morning at Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Still unclear this morning what charges this suspect may be looking at right now, but that is where he is due to appear.
Hi, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In terms of what charges, what formal charges Shahzad will face, but he will be arraigned here sometime later today after he goes through a formal processing procedure. He will be brought here, obviously, from JFK where you showed the flight there, that Emirates Air Flight 202 where all of this unfolded last night. He was arrested at 11:45. This after the plane had just pulled back from the gate. Investigators brought the plane back so they can make their arrest.
They say this is the same man who purchased that Nissan Pathfinder about three weeks ago for some $1,800 from another person. That Pathfinder used in the failed Times Square bombing. That person who actually sold Shahzad the Nissan Pathfinder was able to help investigators with their case.
At this point, Kiran, as you said a little earlier, investigators are also trying to determine whether or not Shahzad acted alone or acted with the help of someone else. That will be part of their investigation. We are already hearing that Shahzad has told investigators he acted alone. Investigators not buying that at this point and continuing with their investigation. Again, Shahzad expected to be formally charged here sometime later today -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Jason Carroll for us down there at the federal courthouse. We'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning. Thanks so much. You know, it's interesting because we are hearing tidbits.
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: And various law enforcement officials sort of giving their take. And one of the things that's up in the air a little bit is some people are saying that this was a last-minute grab.
ACOSTA: Exactly.
CHETRY: It was caught in the nick of time. Others were saying actually they were hoping to possibly catch him making a phone call prior to takeoff and that this was actually more orchestrated than it may seem.
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: So those are things that we're still waiting to learn more about as the day progresses.
ACOSTA: And a lot of those developments are still coming in at this hour and hopefully some of those developments coming from an area in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where police have cordoned off an area. A bomb squad has been called in. Authorities not saying why, only confirming the activity is related to the Times Square attack. Our coverage continues now with Deb Feyerick who is live in Bridgeport, Connecticut, this morning.
And, Deb, you broke the story of Faisal Shahzad's arrest here on CNN. What can you tell us right now?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we can tell you is that there are a lot of FBI agents on this particular street. And if you pan down all the way, we're going to show you all the way down here, you can see some of those white trucks. Those are forensic trucks that are going to be gathering some of the evidence.
You've also got a number of agents. Some of them are in the white sort of special protective suits. They're in the house. They've got a search warrant. That search warrant under subpoena, but it certainly has a list of the things that they are entitled to look for. For example, bomb-making components, fertilizer, maybe even clocks or watches or ignition devices, anything that they believe may have been used to build the particular bomb that was put in that Pathfinder.
And we're talking about an area of Connecticut here that's really we've been driving this area. And really from the various points that this man likely visited, it's no more than 20 minutes. You've got this house, which is about 15 minutes from the house he used to live in, which is about 15 minutes from the parking lot where he purchased the Pathfinder, exchanging money for keys right in the parking lot of a grocery store.
And that's 15 minutes from the scrap yard where he allegedly took a license plate that was found on that vehicle. So everything is really in close proximity here and it was that Pathfinder that led investigators to this area. Because of all the evidence they took out of the car, the one they left in the car was a small sticker mentioning a dealership here in Connecticut. And that was the starting point for investigators, Jim.
ACOSTA: And, Deb, I mean, these terror investigations, you know, they can be enormously complicated. But at the very end, sometimes it just comes down to great, quick detective work, right?
FEYERICK: Oh, there's a lot of great detective work that's been going on. They had so many people working on this, between the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the NYPD. The main priority of everyone was to make sure that they got this man before he either did anything else, before he tried to escape or certainly before he tried to leave the country, which is clearly what they did last night.
ACOSTA: Deb Feyerick putting the pieces together for us in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Deb, we'll be standing with you all morning there. Thanks for hanging out there in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A developing scene at this hour and lots of details could be forthcoming this morning.
CHETRY: And hopefully they'll -- hopefully, we'll update some of the press waiting there to find out more details this morning. We'll check with Deb throughout it.
Also, though, the first big break for law enforcement in the Times Square investigation. The man that the attorney general says was out to, quote, "kill Americans." Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has been up all night working her sources. She's with us in Washington this morning.
Hi, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. First, you mentioned earlier a "Wall Street Journal" report about three passengers being taken off the plane. We now have a statement from Emirates Airlines spokesperson which confirms that. It says that the flight was called back by the local authorities prior to departure. Three passengers were removed from the flight.
We have been told by a law enforcement official that, in fact, the JetWay (ph) had been pulled back from that aircraft when authorities became -- contacted the flight and said we need to take some people off of this. And that our suspect in this case very nearly got away.
Here's what we know about him. He's 30 years old. His name is Faisal Shahzad. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He was naturalized in April of 2009. He was born, of course, in Pakistan. And because he was naturalized at that date, Immigration and Customs Enforcement had a recent photograph of him.
So, when they came on the VIN number on that automobile, the Pathfinder, and traced that back to a Craigslist transaction that took place about three weeks ago, they were able to exploit some of the information in connection with that, come up with a name, then that led them to the picture. They took the picture to the seller, showed it to the seller, said, do you recognize this person? Yes, they said do you recognize this person? And they said, yes, that is the person who bought this car.
And so authorities were on to him. We're told that he was under surveillance for some time. We don't know how long. But he had not been known to authorities prior to the events of Saturday night. Meaning, that the surveillance was just taking place in the last seventy or so hours.
Now, we also know that he has done some recent travel. According to U.S. law enforcement officials, he flew to Dubai in June of 2009 and returned from Dubai in February of 2010, a very lengthy trip. And the official who gave me this information says it is not clear what his final destination was. Dubai is a transient hub. He might have flown from there to some other destination.
I am also told by law enforcement officials that he did make some international calls in recent weeks. Of course, officials are looking at those to see exactly who he was talking to and if they're relevant to this investigation -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Jeanne, so let's break it down. I want to ask you a couple of questions. You said, first of all, that he was not known to authorities before Saturday night. So some of the questions, I understand they had a vehicle identification number. They actually got it from the engine underneath the car. Detectives going under there. So, then, what were they able to -- I mean, how were they able to get it to him after speaking to the owner of that Pathfinder?
MESERVE: Well, first, they took the VIN, which is, I've been comparing it to the social security number of the car.
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: Right.
MESERVE: Because, you know, you can figure out who has owned this vehicle. And the last registered owner of the vehicle was someone in Connecticut. So they went to that individual, spoke with them and then I'm sure looked at all the notations that would have been in the computer. Obviously somebody responded to this advertisement. There may have been telephone calls that set up the meeting. And then, although they didn't exchange any documentation at that meeting, just cash, obviously the seller got a good look at who the buyer was.
But what authorities were able to do was once they've exploited the information and associated that with a name, then, of course, they went to their databases to see what they knew about that individual. And what they turned out is that he had recently become a U.S. citizen. I sent the photo and they went from there.
ACOSTA: And, Jeanne, what about that tidbit that you developed overnight that this plane was about to depart and that he was nabbed at just the last second. I think it was -- I'm paraphrasing there -- that law enforcement you quoted. But -- and we're looking at the live picture of that Emirates jet on the runway there at JFK Airport.
Drew Griffin and Fran Townsend in our last hour were talking about the possibility that perhaps law enforcement officials were keeping an eye on this gentleman and allowing him to go through security and allowing him to get on to that plane just to see if at the last second he was making phone calls, making contacts with anybody. Do we definitively know which of those narratives is the case at this point?
MESERVE: No, we don't at this point. We have conflicting information. And earlier we had even more conflicting information. And that I had one source that was telling me that it was uncertain, that, in fact, it was that late in the game. They weren't sure that he was actually on the aircraft when he was detained.
ACOSTA: Wow. Amazing.
MESERVE: So, you know, this is a developing situation. People are getting different reports from different people.
ACOSTA: Exactly.
MESERVE: And, you know, we don't have it all sorted out yet.
CHETRY: And, Jeanne --
ACOSTA: And, Jeanne -- I'm sorry, Kiran, is that all of this happened in 72 hours --
MESERVE: Yes.
ACOSTA: Does detective work where -- I mean, it's almost like an episode of "Law and Order" where they went from the scene at Times Square, to Connecticut, to the junkyard, catching up with the gentleman who sold the vehicle, to JFK Airport, with the plane pulling from the jet bridge at the last second, according to your law enforcement official. This is extraordinary.
MESERVE: It is. And, in fact, I got an e-mail from someone in law enforcement with that number. I think it is 72 with an exclamation point behind it.
ACOSTA: Wow.
MESERVE: Obviously pretty proud of the fact. Although some of the experts you've been talking, too, here today, have said it may be that they really did not want to make this arrest as quickly. That this is someone they wanted to keep under surveillance for a longer period of time. But because he was exiting the country, they had to move in.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, I mean, when you look at what's changed, I mean, they went from -- I mean, we had the police commissioner on yesterday and they were looking at that video of a guy taking his shirt off, taking off one layer of clothing.
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: That was no one at this point from what we can gather, linked to what they eventually found. They got, in some cases, great detective work. But in some cases, they got lucky. I mean, they could have stolen a car and it would have probably taken much longer to get to the point. And also, if you're saying the guy used his actual name or they were able to get a name from the computer back and forth between the seller and this guy, that's also a little bit of luck there in the investigation.
ACOSTA: Yes.
MESERVE: Yes, you're absolutely right. And we -- I've asked, is that guy in the surveillance tape this individual, this suspect?
CHETRY: Right.
MESERVE: And authorities have not yet been able to answer that question for me.
ACOSTA: Interesting.
MESERVE: But, you know, they're going to be looking at these surveillance tapes very carefully, as well as the forensic evidence that they get of the car because they want to be able to establish not only that this guy bought the Pathfinder but that he was in the Pathfinder Saturday night in Times Square.
CHETRY: Right.
MESERVE: So, I imagine we'll see more of that when we see an indictment in this case.
CHETRY: All right, Jeanne Meserve for us. Thanks so much. I know that you have been working this hour by hour around the clock. And we appreciate your information.
Meanwhile, our special coverage of the Times Square bomb plot arrest continues. When we return, we're going to be checking with Dan Lothian. We're waiting for some reaction from the White House on this this morning.
And then also a little later, reaction from Pakistan. This is a Pakistani, a man of Pakistani descent who had recently become a U.S. citizen. Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad.
It's 14 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Seventeen minutes past the hour right now on this AMERICAN MORNING, and if you're just joining us, we want to bring you up to date on the breaking news this morning, an arrest in the failed Times Square bombing plot. Now, we're getting more details as a clear picture starts to emerge in this investigation.
We want to show you first, though, the events that led up to this over the past few days. It was at 6:28 in the evening, New York Time, Saturday, when a video surveillance camera shows an SUV entering West 45th Street. About two minutes later, a T-shirt vendor alerts a mounted police officer about a suspicious SUV filling with smoke, the hazard lights on and the engine still running.
The officer quickly sets up a perimeter, clears people out. It was a very busy area, of course, Times Square, right in the heart of Theater District, a little bit before a lot of these shows start.
Well, at 2:00 A.M. Sunday morning, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police commissioner Ray Kelly announced a potentially lethal bomb composed of backyard barbecue propane tanks, fire crackers and alarm clocks was found inside of that Nissan Pathfinder. An amateur job, but still, they say, capable of causing a significant fireball and killing pedestrians in the area, by their accounts.
The bomb squad was then sent in to dismantle it and all of the streets were reopened but until 7:00 in the morning. Then at 3:00 Sunday afternoon, police announced that a videotape of a possible suspect had been obtained. Yesterday the SUV and bomb components were then taken to the FBI's forensics lab in Quantico, Virginia.
And, finally, at 11:45 last night, a U.S. citizen -- a recent naturalized U.S. citizen who was of Pakistani descent named Faisal Shahzad was arrested at New York's JFK airport as he was already on board a flight that was set to take off for Dubai.
And, again, we're getting other information this morning confirmed by the airline that indeed three passengers were taken off of that flight to be questioned. I mean, they may be witnesses. They may just -- they wanted (ph) to get some information from them.
And so, right now we're finding out more about any possible conspirators and any possible international connections with this suspect who's due to be arraigned later on today.
ACOSTA: And this is going to go a long way in terms of calming some tensions here in New York. It has been a tense 72 hours here in Manhattan.
And our Dan Lothian is tracking reaction from the White House this morning. Dan is there live for us. Dan, I imagine it's been tense for the administration as well with a terrorism suspect on the loose over these last several -- several hours and ultimately caught at JFK airport.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
ACOSTA: What's the administration saying this morning, Dan?
LOTHIAN: That's right. It has been tense, not only in New York but here at the White House as well. The president has been staying up to date on all of these different moving parts of the investigation, we're told by his top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, receiving briefings throughout the day yesterday, and this is an addition to briefings that he received on Sunday when he headed out to Louisiana.
So far this morning, we haven't been able to get any reaction whatsoever from the White House. Obviously, we want to know, you know, when the president was first alerted that they did have someone that they were going after, and also when was the president alerted that someone had been arrested and what was his reaction. We have not been able to get any official comment from the White House.
The president only has one public -- public event on his schedule this morning. Shortly after 11:00 he's expected to speak to the business council, so perhaps the president will make some comments then, perhaps even sooner than that. We're still waiting for a reaction, though, Jim.
ACOSTA: Dan Lothian, live at the White House this morning. Dan, thanks very much.
And obviously we'll be going back to Dan if something is happening at the White House --
LOTHIAN: OK.
ACOSTA: -- but there's still plenty to talk about with this case, lots of analysis to get through.
CHETRY: Yes, you're -- we're pretty sure we'll probably hear from a representative, possibly the president, but someone else at the White House --
ACOSTA: (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: -- as they continue to get briefed right now on what's going on.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, we want to bring in CNN National Security Contributor, Fran Townsend, who joins us now. She's live in Orlando this morning. Thanks for getting up with us, Fran. I know that we've been checking in with you here at CNN for the past 24 hours as well.
But a couple of interesting things of note, this -- what seem to be conflicting stories or conflicting information about whether or not this was indeed a last second, nick of time arrest or whether this is something that law enforcement wanted to perhaps let play out to see if this suspect, while on this flight as it was getting set to take off, was perhaps going to make a phone call or clue them in to whether or not he had acted alone or not. What do you think?
FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: You know, Kiran, I'm inclined to think, based on my own experience, that they were following this guy. I mean, you have to realize, the VIN number would have tied them not only to the location but to the individual. And so, they probably had -- oftentimes the standard procedure would be to set up a surveillance. He wouldn't have realized he was under surveillance. They would have let him go through the security checkpoints to understand what, if anything, he had on him -- on him, and waited to see if he had other individuals on that flight with him.
Interesting, you know, Jeanne's reported that there were two others taken off the plane in addition to the suspect. This is going to be pretty interesting to see how does that shake out. Were they just witnesses, as you suggested, or are they in some way related to him? That'll -- we -- I imagine we'll know more about that early this morning.
We were talking -- Dan was talking about we don't have a comment yet out of the White House. I can tell you, Kiran, from my time in John Brennan's job, it's pretty hectic there. They're coordinating the inner agency, they're dealing with the mayor, they're dealing with the police commissioner.
They want to make sure they don't get out in front of the Justice Department. And so, they're going to make sure -- they're going to have to coordinate all that before the White House itself issues a statement.
ACOSTA: And, Fran, sometimes -- and we've been talking about this throughout the morning, it comes down to detective work -- great detective work.
TOWNSEND: That's exactly right. You know, I was reminded, when I realized that this -- the case really broke over the VIN number on the engine block, that's also how we got a break in the 1993 World Trade Center case, you know, after that huge explosion.
ACOSTA: Wow.
TOWNSEND: The only real clue that you could find in early going was the VIN number. And so, oftentimes, as you say, Jim, it is really is traditional, sort of gum shoe detective work that leads you down the path that you need in order to identify the suspect.
But it's -- Jeanne Meserve commented earlier, it will be important now not only to establish that the suspect is the individual who purchased the car but that he was actually the one driving it on Saturday night in Times Square.
CHETRY: And, again, that will boil down to some detective work as well. I mean, we talked about just that radius, that few block radius of Times Square, Commissioner Kelly says there's 82 police cameras, let alone, you know, tourists who may have been in the area that were videotaping at the time as well.
They had gone through about 30, 35 video cameras yesterday, or at least the video from the, so that's a lot -- you know, a huge undertaking as well. But I'm sure they're poring through as the hours go by.
This happened -- this all happened very quickly and the -- the developments changed pretty quickly as well in this case.
TOWNSEND: That's exactly right, Kiran. I mean, in addition to the surveillance and the witnesses, they'll be looking for the forensics, obviously, from inside the car, because, of course, when the bomb didn't actually go off there'll be hair, fiber, fingerprints. They'll look at all of that as well to try and tie him to the car.
But it's -- it's fascinating how quickly this changed. Remember, it was only late yesterday afternoon when we began reporting that they were looking at international connections. Not only that, but they were looking to see if there were other individuals who assisted the suspect.
He's obviously claiming, at least now, that he acted alone. I don't think that law enforcement will take that at face value. We know from others -- other sources that they're looking to see if they can identify other individuals who are involved in this.
ACOSTA: Our National Security Contributor, Fran Townsend, joining us live this morning in Orlando, Florida. Fran, thanks for keeping us posted on -- on your thoughts on all of this.
And we want to point out -- we want to show you a live picture, if we could, of what's happening over at JFK airport. The Emirates Flight is taking off shortly here, minus one passenger, at least one passenger, Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the Times Square bomb plot. He has been arrested and is not on that flight.
But that Emirates plane, as we've been talking about throughout the morning, pulling away from the jet bridge and -- just before this gentleman, the suspect was nabbed in our --
CHETRY: Nearly -- nearly seven hours after it was supposed to take off last night at 11:30 --
ACOSTA: Exactly.
CHETRY: -- probably a long overnight for the passengers there. But, again, Flight 202 finally departing JFK.
ACOSTA: Absolutely.
And our special coverage of the Time Square bomb plot will continue. When we return, Drew Griffin from our Special Investigations Unit will be with us next.
It is 25 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-eight minutes past the hour right now.
You are looking at a live picture from John F. Kennedy International Airport this morning in New York where finally this flight, 202 -- United Emirates Flight 202 was supposed to depart last night at 11:30, and, of course, it did not because federal agents and police detectives actually boarded that flight and arrested Faisal Shahzad. He is now the only suspect that is being held right now in connection with the Times Square terror plot.
This was Flight 202, Emirates flight that was supposed to take off at 11:30, and it is now getting set to depart, minus at least one passenger --
ACOSTA: That's right.
CHETRY: -- because there was also some reporting that was confirmed by our Jeanne Meserve that two others were taken off of the flight and questioned. No word on whether they were witnesses or -- or if police just wanted to get a little bit more information from them.
ACOSTA: Exactly. And a lot of that is just standard operating procedure. We don't know whether or not those two individuals had anything to do with Faisal Shahzad.
And, as we've been learning throughout the morning from, Deb Feyerick, who was on the CNN Bridgeport, Connecticut, where authorities there are looking at one of the last known addresses for Mr. Shahzad. There is -- there's just going to be a lot more detective work that's going to be done over the next several hours, you know, not only here in New York but down in Washington.
CHETRY: Yes. This is really moving at lightning speed for a --
ACOSTA: That's right.
CHETRY: -- for an investigation of this magnitude right now. I mean, based on what we knew 24 hours ago, so much has changed now.
And there you see wheels up. That Flight 202 Emirates is now on its way to its original destination, which was Subai.
ACOSTA: Courtesy of our affiliate, WABC. They're in New York, so thanks for that -- for those pictures.
Some compelling pictures to watch that plane actually take off to think about the fact that this suspect was on that flight and that plane was pulling back from that jet bridge, you know, about six hours ago -- seven hours ago.
CHETRY: A lot to think about this morning and certainly, a lot of questions in this investigation.
It's 30 minutes past the hour. And we want to update you if you're just joining us on what we know so far.
Attorney General Eric Holder identified the suspect early this morning. He held a conference at about 1:30 in the morning. He said his name was Faisal Shahzad, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, in fact, a recent citizen naturalized last year. Shahzad believed to be the person who drove the car into Times Square.
A search warrant is being executed in Connecticut right now at what is believed to be his last known address there -- that's where Deb Feyerick is, who's gathering information for us as we speak this morning.
ACOSTA: Right. And law enforcement officials tell us that he is the person who bought that Nissan Pathfinder, the SUV that was packed with explosives and found smoking on 45th Street and Broadway in Times Square Saturday afternoon.
CHETRY: Yes, Shahzad, as we've been saying, was nabbed at JFK Airport around midnight. He was trying to leave the country, as we said, on that flight to Dubai.
A source tells us that Shahzad was already on the flight waiting to leave and there is differing information this morning about whether or not law enforcement officials delayed his arrest because they were hoping to perhaps catch him making a phone call prior to takeoff, or whether or not -- because we also learned that he was -- his name was not on the flight manifest, according to some of our reporting, and so, there are some who say he was nabbed in the nick of time.
ACOSTA: Yes. And we're still trying to sort that out. That's one of the narratives in all this that we're sorting out over time. We should know more in a few hours about the charges Faisal Shahzad will face in the Times Square bomb plot. As you know, he's going to be down in court just a few hours from now.
CHETRY: Yes. And homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, has been tracking all of the developments. She's live in Washington right now with the latest for us.
Hello, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Yes, you just saw the flight take off. We were told by Emirates Airlines that three individuals were taken off the plane -- one of them clearly is the suspect, Faisal Shahzad.
You mentioned there's a lot of detective work left to do and that's certainly true. A search warrant is being executed right now in Connecticut at his last known address.
The FBI is saying very little about this. But we can guess what they're looking for. We can guess they're looking for computers, for computer records. They're looking for telephones. They're looking for address books. They're looking for literature.
They are looking at anything that might help them put together the web of acquaintances, the web of information that this man might have used to assemble this bomb, if indeed, he did do it. And, as you say, they are trying to branch it out to see who else might involved.
We have been told -- we were told yesterday before we learned of this arrest that they are -- were looking at the possibility that more than one person was involved and clearly they also are looking at these possible international ties.
We're told by a law enforcement source that he had made calls overseas in recent weeks. In addition, we do now that he traveled over there fairly recently. He, as we've mentioned, is of Pakistani descent, only became a citizen of the U.S. in April of 2009.
And just a few months later, in June of 2009, he left the country, didn't come back until the following February. So months and months and months away. Where was he? That's what they want to find out.
The flights went to Dubai and came back from Dubai, but they believe that there's a possibility he might have traveled somewhere else from there. They are going to want to know everything about what he was doing overseas, who he was meeting with, what he was doing. Was he getting any training? Were any terrorists or anybody suspected of being terrorists among his acquaintances in the people he met with over there?
So, as you say, a lot of spade work left to be done -- left to be done before they put this to sleep despite the fact that they have at this point made this one arrest.
CHETRY: Getting any indication of whether or not any of us or any of you will be getting an update this morning from law enforcement?
MESERVE: No. No indication yet, except that we do know that he'll be in court this morning. This is a very preliminary appearance. I doubt we're going to learn too terrifically much from that.
I suspect that after that search is completed, that the results will be sealed. We probably won't have access to that.
I can tell you that there was concern that too much information about this investigation had been getting out in recent days. One law enforcement official told me that one of reasons that this individual was trying to leave the country was that he had heard media reports that authorities were looking for somebody in the state of Connecticut and had some leads about this car transaction.
So, they are going to be guarding information from here on out, I suspect, quite carefully, in order not to compromise any further arrest.
CHETRY: It's so interesting --
ACOSTA: Yes.
CHETRY: -- they need us until they don't, because they --
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: I mean, they've put the police out and they put out many people to talk about it because they needed that to get out there and they needed that surveillance video out there, and then -- you know, we get dinged for trying to do the investigation through the media. So, a double-edged sword for law enforcement, I'm sure.
MESERVE: And for us.
CHETRY: Exactly.
ACOSTA: Yes. But great detective work over the last 72 hours. I mean, you know, to be able to piece this together that quickly after finding a SUV that's smoking and hissing in the middle of Times Square and then to pull a guy off the plane at this hour, you know, in the middle of the night last night, just incredible.
And, you know, one of the things I guess we'll be talking about throughout the morning -- because you're our homeland security correspondent, Jeanne, I have to ask you about it. The fact this gentleman became a naturalized citizen in the last year. We were talking with our analyst in the last hour, Paul Cruickshank, about, you know, whether or not this is an avenue for potential terrorists.
MESERVE: Sure. They are called clean skins. Those are people who have absolutely no record.
ACOSTA: Wow.
MESERVE: This person, we're told, they had nothing on the radar screen at all. He wasn't on any terrorist watch list or anything like that before these events of Saturday. And that's the kind of person they are most worried about -- particularly if they are a U.S. citizen. They can come and go at will.
Yes, records of kept are their travels. That's how we know that this guy left the country. But there was nothing about him, at least in the official documentation that raised any suspicion. And it's their worst worry when it comes to people who might want to perpetrate these kinds of acts.
ACOSTA: Jeanne Meserve, thanks a lot for that. We appreciate it this morning.
CHETRY: And, again, we have a lot of activity going on in Bridgeport, Connecticut. That is the neighborhood where the police believe that the last-known address of this suspect was. Police and the bomb squad are swarming a home there several hours ago. And it's believed to be, again, the last known address for the Times Square bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad.
And our continuing coverage now continues with Deb Feyerick, who is in Bridgeport this morning.
And you broke the story of Faisal's arrest. What can you tell us now about they're looking for in this area that they have cordoned off there in Bridgeport?
FEYERICK: Well, they have a search warrant. The search warrant is sealed. So, we're not exactly sure what they are looking for.
But, usually, in cases like this, anything that could be related to the bomb or anyone he may have spoken to, all of that is something that they are clearly going to be interested in taking a look at.
We do know that he was questioned for several hours last night. When he was taken off the plane, he was brought to another area of JFK Airport where he was questioned by federal agents and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and NYPD. That lasted about 3 1/2 hours basically and then he was transported into Manhattan where he's been kept, where he's going to make an appearance later this morning.
Now, law enforcement source tells us that Shahzad is claiming that he acted alone. Whether they believe that -- well they are going to run down anybody he may have spoken with. They want to know exactly who he was calling here in the United States, who he may be calling overseas so see whether there was any larger nexus to terrorism.
You know, specifically, was this just a lone wolf? Was this somebody who was inspired or radicalized or indoctrinated by sort of jihadi speak on the Internet, or was this somebody who had done training in any camps in -- you know, either in Pakistan or elsewhere? All of that is going to be under investigation.
Let's look down the block here. And you can see the trucks behind me. Those white vehicles, those are the evidence trucks. Those are the forensic teams that are inside the house.
They are scouring everything they possibly can. Even a piece of paper with a phone number may provide that critical clue, just like the VIN number was able to point the car as belonging here in Connecticut.
Now, the FBI did secure the area. We do when we got here in the middle of the night, it was pitch-dark. And the only thing you could see really were the lights from the police cars because they've set up a very wide perimeter to make sure that nobody really tainted this area. They wanted to keep it pure.
They also wanted to make sure that there were no bombs in the house. The head of FBI here in Connecticut is saying that, in fact, the residents of this area were indeed safe -- Kiran, Jim.
ACOSTA: Deb Feyerick, live for us this morning in Bridgeport, Connecticut -- Deb, thanks very much.
And let's turn to Drew Griffin, our special investigations unit correspondent.
And, Drew, let's bounce off of what Deb was just talking about there, she was saying that authorities told her, told CNN, that this gentleman has said that he was working by himself, that he was alone. But how do we get to that -- how do we get to the bottom of that?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: Well, they'll be able to do it through the detective work, through the forensic work. But look at we have right now. We have a guy under arrest, one person under arrest. He says he acted alone.
Law enforcement officials tell us -- that number one -- he is the person who bought the vehicle, he himself. And a law enforcement source told me that he is the person who drove that Nissan Pathfinder into Times Square.
So, everything is indicating one person. What is not indicating one person is common sense -- how did he get this all together being a one-man job?
But now, we have him. We have his fingerprints. We have his hair. They'll be able to see if there's anybody else's fingerprints here, any kind of DNA in the vehicle.
Ask him, where did you buy the propane tanks? Then go there. Did he come in with anybody? Did he buy? Do you remember this guy?
So, they'll be able to try to corroborate or discard his story I think pretty quickly. But, you know, the focus has got to be: who else is out there, because that's the danger.
CHETRY: Right. And some of the other interesting reporting that there is evidence apparently, this is according to "The Washington Post," that investigators uncover evidence, a piece of paper, fingerprints or possibly both that indicate international ties. And this was according to a federal official who was briefed on the investigation.
As we also know, at least -- the Taliban in Pakistan tried to claim responsibility.
GRIFFIN: Right.
CHETRY: Whether or not there is any truth to that or whether or not they try to inflate, you know, themselves in Pakistan is still up in the air. But how soon do you think they'll be able to rule in or rule out whether or not there were conspirators?
GRIFFIN: I think it's job one for these guys. You can see how quickly they are moving. I mean, you know, Jim, you alluded to, this is an incredible work.
ACOSTA: Yes.
GRIFFIN: You could almost take this in real-time and make a movie out of it.
ACOSTA: Right.
GRIFFIN: How quickly they've been working on this. They really --
CHETRY: I have to laugh because yesterday, Commissioner Ray Kelly, when I was asking him questions, said, you know, this isn't CSI, this stuff doesn't happen overnight, and then it really did happen overnight.
GRIFFIN: Yes. It did happen overnight and through the night.
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Yes. Thank goodness it did.
GRIFFIN: Exactly. But they need to find out and, you know, very quickly if anybody else is involved because there's a potential threat out there, right?
ACOSTA: Right. Yes.
GRIFFIN: And then they'll move to see, well, who inspired him. Who directed him? Was there overseas involvement that way, like al- Awlaki who instructed other people to come and attack us?
ACOSTA: Or was he taking cues from the Taliban in Pakistan, you know?
GRIFFIN: Or was he just self-radicalized, you know, wanted to impress his friends somewhere else? Who knows?
ACOSTA: Yes.
GRIFFIN: But the job number one is to find out anybody else here on this soil that is still a potential threat. And I'm sure they're going --
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: You mentioned the forensics work -- as we know, that entire SUV was flown to Quantico, to the FBI lab there, where they're going to be doing all of this. Meantime, how big of a role will any type electronic communications play in this? I know that that was one of the original tips after the VIN number found on the engine block was finding out indeed that this transaction took place or at least was initiated through Craigslist.
GRIFFIN: Right. Well, they'll find out every place he went to on the Internet. They'll find out every phone call he made. And they will find the person who he called, and they will go and find out what that person's involvement or noninvolvement was. They're going to chase down every phone call.
And that includes calls overseas to Pakistan. We're work with -- when I say "we," the FBI will be working with their counterparts over in Pakistan and asking them, who is this? Who is this person? What is their involvement?
ACOSTA: Yes.
GRIFFIN: They will not stop until they have a clear picture of this guy. And right now, all we have is a guy under arrest saying he's a lone wolf.
ACOSTA: And here we have a new case of a plot that was almost carried out on our soil. And there are details in this case that lead us to believe that terrorist elements outside the United States have discovered new ways to penetrate our security infrastructure in this country -- at least there's a suggestion that, in the fact that Faisal Shahzad became a naturalized U.S. citizen just over a year ago.
We heard from Jeanne Meserve refer to him as a clean skin, I believe is what she used.
GRIFFIN: Yes.
ACOSTA: A term that she used there. And so, using Craigslist to purchase an SUV, going to a scrap yard to pull a license plate off a different vehicle and slap it on there. It's almost as if we have new -- I guess a new instruction manual really for pulling off something like this.
GRIFFIN: You know, which is why you have to put everything together. He becomes a naturalized citizen in April of 2009.
ACOSTA: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Well, he became a citizen. Did he become a radical before that? Was he planning this?
ACOSTA: Right.
GRIFFIN: Was this part of the plan all along? Or did he get ticked off a month ago by some, you know, imam somewhere who got them all fired up and he flies back here and puts this plot together hastily?
CHETRY: Right.
GRIFFIN: You know, you can see both things coming to fruition here. We just absolutely don't know. But the motivation is going to be key because it's also going to see if somebody directed him and see if there is a wider plot that you're saying, Jim, could be out there.
ACOSTA: Yes.
GRIFFIN: Or whether or not, you know, this is --
ACOSTA: This is a lone guy.
GRIFFIN: -- he just ticked off and he slapped this thing together. It didn't work. Obviously, he's bad at it, thank goodness.
ACOSTA: And he tried to bolt.
CHETRY: That was the -- that was the point I was going to hit on. We are going to take a quick break, actually, when we come back. But the bottom line is: we are praising the police work and investigation and that has been by all accounts, so far, very commendable. However, it just begs the question: what if he had better explosives? What if he was able to pull if off? What if there was less observant public citizen that said, "I see smoke"? I mean, he actually got to the point of being able to park an explosive vehicle in Times Square. And so, that's a -- that's got to be troublesome.
GRIFFIN: Which quickly is also a reason why you can't stand these lone wolves. They are alone. They don't talk to anybody. So, there's nobody who's going to give you the tip.
CHETRY: Drew Griffin, great to talk you. We'll be checking with you throughout the morning as well. Thanks.
ACOSTA: Our special coverage of the Times Square bomb plot arrest continues. When we return, we're going to check in with Reza Sayah in Islamabad and lots more with Paul Cruickshank, one of our terrorism analysts and so there lots to tell you about this morning. Stick with us. It's 45 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-eight minutes past 6:00 here in New York. And if you're just joining us, we have breaking news this morning. We want to get you up to date as we learn many new details, even in the past 30 minutes, on the failed Times Square bomb plot. Here's what we have right now.
The suspect who is now in federal custody, Faisal Shahzad, 30 years old, a U.S. citizen, a Pakistani descent, a naturalized citizen who became a citizen back in 2009. Shahzad was nabbed at JFK Airport around midnight trying to leave the country on a Dubai flight. That flight has actually taken off since within the hour.
ACOSTA: That's right. Law enforcement officials tell us that he is the person who bought that Nissan Pathfinder, paid cash for it, and this was the linchpin of the investigation, that the surveillance video coming out of Times Square was instrumental in part of this, and the SUV, as we know, was packed with explosives and found smoking on 45th Street in Broadway Saturday afternoon.
We should note, this just coming in from our Dan Lothian who's at the White House from Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, that the president was briefed six times yesterday about the investigation and was notified of the arrest at 12:05 a.m. So pretty shortly after the arrest occurred all by John Brennan who is the counterterrorism adviser there at the White House.
CHETRY: All the while as we looking at other grilling disaster which is, of course, the oil spill off the Gulf Coast, so a very, very busy with a lot going on. And as we've been telling you, the man arrested in the foiled Times Square terror plot. He's a 30-year-old, naturalized citizen, from Pakistan. He was nabbed at JFK Airport, fleeing the country on an Emirates Flight set to leave for Dubai. His final destination reportedly was Pakistan.
ACOSTA: That's right. Did he have any accomplices? And what's been the reaction to all of these in that country? Reza Sayah has been looking into all of that. He joins us live from Islamabad this morning. Reza, you do have some reaction from the Pakistani government, right?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, more new information coming into CNN. I just talked to the spokesperson for the U.S. embassy, and he tells me that the ambassador here to Islamabad and Patterson (ph) plans to discuss this investigation with Pakistan's Foreign Minister and Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, also Pakistan's interior minister, Rehman Malik, confirming to CNN that his government has been given the name of Faisal Shahzad. Here's the statement by the interior minister.
We will fully cooperate and help the government of the United States of America to identify and bring the suspect and his associates to justice. Also, reaction today from the office of Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, the spokesperson telling CNN, it is unfortunate that this man is from Pakistan, but it is also clear he is a U.S. national. It's much too early in the investigation to reach a conclusion, but it's Pakistan's position that we are prepared to help the international community in the fight against militancy and extremism.
So, a lot of questions to be answered. Who this man is, and it looks like Pakistan is offering its help. Back to you guys.
CHETRY: All right. Any inference that Shahzad has links to any militant groups in Pakistan? I know, as we've been talking about that videotape, it's surface from the Pakistani-Taliban claiming at least responsibility and congratulating (ph) the would-be bomber.
SAYAH: Yes, at this point, it is absolutely no indication that he is linked to any militant groups, but with the militant groups that enjoy save havens here, that have enjoyed safe havens every since the 09/11 in the U.S. invasion across the border in Afghanistan, there's been a lot of terror plots and terror attacks that have been linked to militant groups of Pakistani-Taliban, the Afghan-Taliban and al Qaeda and militant groups linked to al Qaeda. Right now, there is no indication that there is a link but look for Pakistani investigators to look into it.
CHETRY: Reza Sayah for us this morning from Islamabad. We'll check in with you throughout the morning as well. Thank you.
ACOSTA: And joining us now to talk about the feds' big break in the Times Square terror plot, terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank. Paul, thanks for joining us this morning. We've been talking about this all morning for all of this detective work to go down in the last 72 hours and result in an arrest on an airplane as it was getting ready to take off at JFK Airport.
Obviously, they are the two narratives. Did they know that this gentleman was getting on the plane, you know, well in advance and they were just tracking him to see whether or not he was making a phone calls and so forth? Or did they just happen to catch him at the last second and prevent him from taking off? You have to think that this is just extraordinary, what we just witnessed.
PAUL CRUICKSHANK, TERRORISM ANALYST: From past cases you'd think that they have to be tracking him towards this plane, but the concern right now is there may be others out there still. He's claiming he's the only one, but if he was radicalized enough to launch an attack against his country, he's radicalized enough to lie to the FBI. And previous instances where we had bombing plots, bombing attacks, there've been groups of individuals involves. So, counterterrorism officials, NYPD, FBI will be looking at that very closely this morning.
CHETRY: We could still find out as they investigate any potential correspondence, fingerprints, computer leads, you know, any internet connection to try to figure out whether, indeed, he did have any help, but the other interesting thing about this, Paul, is just the fact that we've gotten lucky. When you take a look at the Abdulmutallab, the so-called underwear bomber, his TATP didn't go off, the explosive.
In this situation, his MdADH smoking but not enough to sort of ignite any type of fireball. And after the fact, grade detective work to track this down, but before the fact, how much power do we have to prevent a lone wolf scenario from trying to carry out something.
CRUICKSHANK: Very little power. It's not very difficult for somebody to get a hold of these very easily accessible materials and to build a bomb. This wasn't a sophisticated device. So, we have to get lucky every time. But it's not just luck as you were saying, this is smart detective work by the NYPD, by the FBI, supported by the JTTF, that resulted in this arrest this morning, Kiran.
ACOSTA: And we're not sure whether or not this suspect was radicalized in the last year after he became a naturalized U.S. citizen or whether he was radicalized before he became a U.S. citizen and he used that process to essentially penetrate our National Security System. You're saying that there is a precedent for this, this is not unprecedented?
CRUICKSHANK: There is a precedent that people who have gone through the naturalization process eventually joined al Qaeda, the case of Mohammed (INAUDIBLE) who is from Pakistan, came over when he was young in the United States and eventually became radicalize here in the United States. In 2004, he conceptualized but did not plan in detail, a bombing attack in Times Square. He was with al Qaeda. Al Qaeda realized this is where you can hurt the American people.
CHETRY: And this was in 2004?
CRUICKSHANK: In 2004, this emerged in trial in Britain in 2006. Al Qaeda is a terrorist group that have thought about this before. There's a video came out for the Pakistani-Taliban claiming responsibility. The fact that this individual was from Pakistan gives that a bit more seriousness. And, you know, in the summer the claims have been right, some have been wrong. Too early to tell whether they're actually responsible for this.
ACOSTA: And here we are nine years after September 11th, they still want to attack us in New York City, Manhattan and Times Square specifically. As you mentioned, before in 2004 was a target. It potentially was a target this time around.
CRUICKSHANK: It's a cross roads of the world and al Qaeda crossed us, absolutely.
CHETRY: The other question about the situation, when you take a look at this, there was talk this morning as where we had editorial meeting and just, you know, figuring out some of this and some of the aspects of this. A couple of people said, hey, is this a blue print of, you know, this was the dry run that didn't work out?
So, if I'm somebody who has the evil intentions, I know now what to do and what not to do, in terms of, you know, obtaining a vehicle, in terms of what explosives may or may not work or is it more of a deterrent, that, hey, they're going to catch up with you? No matter what you try to do, it's extremely difficult, still to carry out a successful bombing.
CRUICKSHANK: I think those things are right, but also, you know, I don't think it shows that you don't even have to be successful to get a lot of media attention, a lot of people worried, a lot of people scared. So, other people may, in the future, conduct these sort of terrorist attacks. There's a school of thought the al Qaeda is going to want to carry out, so lowest scale attacks in the future because they realize that they easy to pull off and that --
CHETRY: They've had to downgrade. I mean, you know, you go from something as heartbreakingly spectacular as being able to knock down the twin towers to a failed underwear bomber and this guy in Times Square that couldn't ignite an SUV.
CRUICKSHANK: They're certainly under pressure, but al Qaeda still has capability of launching us very significant operations we saw in the fall Najibullah Zazi that was an al Qaeda plot. He trained in Pakistan, the tribal areas and the plot was to attack the one, two, three line, the four, five, six line here in Manhattan. That would have led to a lot of loss of life. So, they still have that capability. They still have a safe haven in Pakistan. That's the number one safe haven. It's not Yemen. It's not Somalia. It's Pakistan. It's still a big, big problem, Kiran.
ACOSTA: Paul Cruickshank, thanks for that analysis. Disturbing analysis, unfortunately, but definitely worth paying attention to. We'll getting back to you throughout the morning as well, Paul. Thank you so much.
And even though it was a plot that was small in scale would have been maximum impact in Times Square with all of those cameras there, so that's a big reason why Times Square is certainly a target and will be for a while. Our special coverage continues at the top of the hour which is in just a couple of minutes from now. We're going to run through all of the details as we've been following them throughout the night.
Our CNN correspondents have been fanned out across the Tri-State area of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, also down in Washington following all of the details on this. And we'll get that to you in just a few minutes. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
