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A Pakistani man believed to be the driver of an abandoned SUV is taken into custody by officials while trying to leave the US.
A MAN believed to be the driver of a sports utility vehicle used as a car bomb in a failed terror attack on New York's Times Square has been arrested by federal and local police while trying to leave the country.Faisal Shahzad, a naturalised US citizen from Pakistan, was believed to have recently bought the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder that was found loaded with petrol, propane, fireworks and fertiliser. He was identified by customs agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to officials.
He had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan but was not apparently headed back there, they said.
Police said Mr Shahzad bought the SUV from a Connecticut man about three weeks ago and paid cash. Police said the bomb could have produced a ''significant fireball'' and sprayed shrapnel with enough force to kill pedestrians.
The SUV was parked on a packed street lined with restaurants and Broadway theatres.
The vehicle identification number had been removed from the Pathfinder's dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine and investigators used it to find the owner of record.
''The discovery of the VIN on the engine block was pivotal in that it led to the identifying of the registered owner,'' said Paul Browne, chief New York Police Department spokesman.
Officials said the owner, whose name has been withheld, was not considered a suspect in the bomb scare.
Investigators tracked the licence plate found on the back of the vehicle to a used car parts shop in Stratford, Connecticut, where they discovered the plate was connected to a different vehicle.
Investigators initially had wanted to speak to a man in his 40s who was videotaped taking off his shirt near the Pathfinder, but they backed away as the buyer became clear. The man had not been considered a suspect.
On Monday there was a sweeping response to the attempted attack, including an increased police presence and vehicle inspections. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Saturday's attempted bombing was a terrorist act.
The motive remained unclear. The Pakistani Taliban appeared to claim responsibility for the bomb in three videos.
New York officials said police had no evidence to support the claims. It is unclear whether the suspect in custody has any relationship to the group.
The vehicle was parked near offices of Viacom, which owns Comedy Central. The network recently aired an episode of the animated show South Park that militant group Revolution Muslim had complained insulted the prophet Muhammad by depicting him in a bear costume.
The vehicle was captured on video crossing an intersection at 6.28pm local time on Saturday. A vendor pointed out the Pathfinder to an officer about two minutes later. Times Square was shut down for 10 hours. A bomb squad dismantled the explosive device and no one was hurt.
The device had alarm clocks connected to a 450-gram can filled with fireworks, which were apparently intended to detonate the gas cans and set the propane on fire in a chain reaction, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.
A metal rifle cabinet placed in the cargo area was packed with fertiliser, but NYPD bomb experts believe it was not a type volatile enough to explode like the ammonium nitrate grade fertiliser used in previous terrorist bombings.
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