New York City police have called off a bomb scare in New York after cordoning off Union Square following the discovery two gas canisters in a suspicious vehicle parked in Union Square in downtown Manhattan. A large boom was heard when a robot popped open the car’s windows, but police have located the owner of the car and removed suspicions that the vehicle had been booby-trapped.
The Con Edison utility company evacuated its offices as people in the crowded area feared a repeat of the May 1 failed car bomb attack in Times Square.
The principal suspect, Pakistani-born American citizen Faisal Shahzad, was arrested on board a plane that was to fly him out of New York and to Dubai.
American media reported a second suspect provided evidence that Taliban terrorists in Pakistan were behind the attempted attack on crowded Times Square, although original reports had said the primitive bomb did not appear to be the work of a major terrorist network. He and two others were arrested Thursday in raids on suburbs in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
The unidentified suspect admitted helping Shahzad, but the Washington Post reported there were inconsistencies in the testimony by the two suspects.
Pakistan has arrested a fourth suspect as well.