Asia

Home page

Asia

FBI searches Watertown, Brookline in NYC bomb probe

14 May 2010 00:37 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Authorities are searching a home on Waverley Avenue in Watertown in connection with the investigation of the attempted bombing in Times Square earlier this month, the FBI said this morning, APA reports quoting boston.com website.
FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz emphasized that "there’s no known immediate threat to the public or active plot against the United States."
Marcinkiewicz said search warrants had been executed at "several locations in the Northeast," including the Watertown home. Police tape cordoned off the small white house at 39 Waverley this morning.
"The searches are the product of evidence that has been gathered in the investigation" of the Times Square attempt, she said.
A witness also reported police and FBI activity at a gas station on Harvard Street in Brookline, but it wasn’t clear if that was related. Brookline Police Lieutenant Philip Harrington confirmed that local police were assisting the FBI there, but referred all further questions to the FBI.
Baij Joshi, who manages the property for his father, Shubh, said the tenants on the first floor were several Pakistani men, who had lived there "more than two to three years." He said some had spoken recently of taking trips to Pakistan.
"They seemed to be very good people. They paid the rent on time," he said.
"The impression that I got is they’re working people, making their daily livelihood by driving a taxi and working in a store," he said.
Vincent Lacerra, who lives across the street from the Waverley Avenue home, said he was watching TV at about 6 a.m. when he heard a commotion outside and the words, "FBI, don’t move, put your hands up!"
He looked outside to see about 20 agents with guns drawn. "They all had their guns drawn, pointed at the house," he said.
Soon afterwards, a man whose age he estimated at 25 to 40 was taken from the house and put into an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement van.
His wife, Barbara, said, "He was in shackles and handcuffs. He was right in front of me. He glanced at at me a second."
"I’d never seen him before," said Vincent Lacerra. "It was quite amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It seemed so real, so overwhelming."
Through the morning, agents have been working in the house, taking computers and boxes out of it, he said.
Two people encountered during the searches have also been taken into custody for alleged immigration violations, Marcinkiewicz said. But she said she couldn’t say whether either or both of those people were arrested during the Watertown search.
She said no further information was immediately available. A Watertown Police lieutenant referred all further questions to the FBI.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, was arrested a little more than two days after a crude car bomb was found on May 1 in a smoking car in Times Square. US officials have said it was very likely that the Pakistani Taliban played a role in the failed attempt.