WE GOT HIM! U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder: “It’s clear that the intent behind this terrorist attack was to kill Americans.” (Getty Images)
A Connecticut man who recently spent several months in his native Pakistan was arrested at Kennedy Airport early this morning in connection with the attempted Times Square car bombing, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, was trying to flee the United States and was headed for Dubai when he was apprehended by federal customs agents, the sources said.
Shahzad last week purchased the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder used in the would-be attack, the sources said, noting that an e-mail sent from his account had been used to contact the seller.
Meanwhile, FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Conn., early today. Special Agent Kimberly Mertz said the feds had a court ordered search warrant on the three story clapboard house, but wouldn’t provide details except to confirm the search was related to the faield bomb plot.
Mertz wouldn’t confirm of this was Shazad’s address, but neighbors who were shown a facebook photo of Shazad recognized him as the owner of the house. He’d been renovating for the past 8 months or so — though he didn’t live there, neighbors said.
Authorities believe Shahzad drove the dark-green SUV — loaded with propane, fireworks, gasoline, non-explosive fertilizer and a timing device — to West 45th Street near Broadway Saturday night and tried to detonate it.
PAKISTAN VOWS TO AID INVESTIGATION
TEEN STUNNED BY HER TERROR ‘SELL’
He had recently returned from five months in Pakistan, where his wife lives, The Associated Press reported.
Shahzad, a naturalized US citizen, had not been seen at his home or at his job since the Times Square incident.
Federal charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction were pending.
Shahzad is believed to be only one of several people involved in the plot, and authorities are trying to determine if he has ties to foreign groups — possibly including al Qaeda.
“This investigation is ongoing. It is multifaceted and it is aggressive,” US Attorney General Eric Holder said after the arrest. “It’s clear that the intent behind this terrorist attack was to kill Americans.”
An Obama administration official said earlier, “Don’t be surprised if you find a foreign nexus. They’re looking at some telltale signs, and they’re saying it’s pointing in that direction.”
The arrest came as:
* Forensic evidence gleaned from the SUV supported the theory of foreign terrorist involvement, officials said. A source said that evidence specifically involves one of the alarm clocks fashioned into a timing device on the propane-and-gasoline bomb.
* It was revealed that Peggy Colas, a 19-year-old Bridgeport, Conn., college student, sold the Pathfinder to the suspected bomber on April 28. She told authorities that the man — who paid her in $100 bills — appeared to be Middle Eastern or Hispanic.
* The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force took over the investigation from the NYPD. Evidence from the SUV — including propane tanks, gasoline jugs and wiring — was shipped to its lab in Quantico, Va., for analysis.
* Investigators are reviewing recent possible terrorist chatter to see if it is connected to the attack. That “chatter” includes overseas phone calls made by one of several peopled linked to the Pathfinder, NBC News reported.
As part of the probe into possible overseas ties, investigators are focusing on similarities between the Times Square device and the 2007 Jeep-bomb attack at the airport in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as an attempted car-bombing of a London nightclub the same year, authorities said.
All three incidents involved vehicles stuffed with propane and gasoline devices.
The Times Square plot “very well could be [the work of] a group in this country that is connected to al Qaeda,” Rep. Peter King (R-LI), the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, told The Post.
Meanwhile, cops yesterday reiterated that a crucial break in the case was nearly thwarted.
Someone had used acid to burn the SUV’s vehicle identification number from the dashboard, but investigators got it off the engine block.
“[That] was a pivotal development in the investigation that continues to pay dividends,” said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
Authorities said cops are still seeking potential witnesses to the planned attack, including a man seen in surveillance video changing his shirt and then scurrying off.
Cops had previously thought that he might have been involved in the case but no longer believe so, officials said.
The Taliban in Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack on an Islamist Web site, although officials strongly discounted that possibility over the weekend.
Still, a source connected to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency had told The Post that the Pakistani Taliban also had put out an audiotape taking “full responsibility” for the attempt — 24 hours before it even occurred.
Another video had been put out by the Pakistani Taliban later Sunday that showed its leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, vowing attacks on the United States.
Mehsud was thought to have been killed in a drone strike in January.
Authorities also are probing whether the plot might have targeted Viacom, which owns Comedy Central, whose headquarters are feet from the scene.
Comedy Central’s show “South Park” recently depicted the Prophet Mohammed in a bear suit, and its producers had received threats because of that.
While authorities initially downplayed the bomb as “amateurish,” they have since backed off that assessment, noting that had it gone off, it would likely have killed hundreds of people.
The bombing was thwarted after two street vendors noticed the Pathfinder’s interior was smoking and alerted two mounted NYPD officers, who immediately evacuated the area.
One of the vendors, Duane Jackson, said President Obama phoned him yesterday to personally express his gratitude.
“He said, ‘Thank you very much. I appreciate what you did, the whole country does and New Yorkers,’ ” a beaming Jackson told Fox News.
At the Marriott Marquis in Times Square yesterday, about dozen NYPD detectives were still at work interviewing guests as they checked out, asking them whether they had video that might aid the investigation.
Other investigators were going to office buildings in the area to hunt for more surveillance video that might aid the probe.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged the federal government to fully fund security measures designed to root out car bombs.
“New York City is still the Number 1 target of terrorists and still needs the most support,” Schumer said.
He added that New York needs money for a comprehensive security plan, including a Midtown surveillance program that would record and track every vehicle moving between 34th and 59th streets, an initiative strongly backed by Mayor Bloomberg.
Bloomberg said the city and federal government should spare no expense to keep New Yorkers safe.
New York already has a Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, for whose expansion the city has committed $110 million, Bloomberg said.
That network would resemble London’s “Ring of Steel,” an extensive web of cameras and roadblocks designed to detect, track and deter terrorists.
Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte and Reuven Fenton in Bridgeport, Conn., and Bruce Golding, David Seifman, Leonard Greene, Helen Freund, Jamie Schram and Lachlan Cartwright in New York