Faisal Shahzad was born June 30, 1979 to wealthy parents in Pakistan. He attended primary school in Saudi Arabia, then several schools in Pakistan. His grades in school were poor to mediocre. He attended Greenwich University in Karachi where he had servants, chauffeurs, and armed guards. He studied five semesters in the Southeastern University in Washington, D.C. Pursuing business courses. He made several C’s and D’s and an F in basis statistics, accruing a 2.78 grade average. He later transferred to the University of Bridgeport. He received his B.A. Degree in 2002 and later an MBA degree in 2005.
He married a Colorado born U.S. citizen of Pashtun descent in 2004 and was granted citizenship on April 17, 2009 due to his marriage. He abruptly quit his job, abandoned his home and defaulted his mortgage of $218,400. He called his wife on June 2, saying he was leaving for Pakistan and it was up to her whether or not she followed him. She refused and moved herself and their two children to Saudi Arabia where her parents were then living.
The FBI learned later that he had taken explosive training in December 2009, with a militant extremist group in Waziristan, Pakistan, and returned to the United States. On February 25, 2010, while in Massachusetts, he received $5,000 in cash from a co-conspirator in Pakistan who was connected with the Taliban. Then on April 10, 2010, while he was in Ronkonkoma., New York, he received an additional $7,000 from the same co-conspirator.
The FBI tracked and found after his arrest that he had purchased a used Nissan Pathfinder, a 9 millimeter Kel-Tec semiautomatic rifle, plus components for the improvised explosive and incendiary devices which he placed inside the Pathfinder on May 1, and parked it in Times Square. He then attempted to start the detonation process for the explosives and returned to his home in Connecticut.
He was arrested on May 3 at the JFK airport as he attempted to flee to Dubai. When captured, he readily admitted that he had purchased the Pathfinder, the materials and had parked it in Times Square. He also told the FBI that, had he not been arrested, he would have attemped another explosion in a couple of months.
On June 17, 2010, Shazad was indicted in the Southern District of New York for ten offenses relating to the May 1, 2010, attempted bombing. Based on the offenses alleged in the Indictment, Shazad faced a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. On June 21, 2010, Shazad pled guilty to all ten offenses before Judge Cedarbaum. He was so sentenced on October 5, 2010.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: "Faisal Shahzad is a remorseless terrorist who betrayed his adopted country and today was rightly sentenced to spend the rest of his life in federal prison. While his life sentence ensures that he will never again threaten the security of New York City and our nation, together we must remain vigilant against those like him who wish to do us harm."
Indeed. And with the many thousands of illegal immigrants, just how many more are there likely to be?
Comments