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Father called FBI on Rahami
WASHINGTON: Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man captured Monday for bombings in New York and New Jersey, which injured 29 people, had been reported to law enforcement as
WASHINGTON: Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man captured Monday for bombings in New York and New Jersey, which injured 29 people, had been reported to law enforcement as “a terrorist” two years ago by his own father, who later recanted.
Rahami, who is being charged with attempted murder for shooting two law enforcement officers, was also reported to be carrying a notebook at the time of this capture containing writings in support of jihad — “killing the kuffar (another spelling for kafir, and unbeliever)”, The New York Times reported.
He was captured from Linden, a city in New Jersey not far from where he lived.
He had used pressure cookers in New York, similar to the one used by the Boston marathon bombers in 2013, and pipe bombs in New Jersey.
Authorities had still no word about his motives. In focus are his many trips to Pakistan, where he spent a year in one stretch.
Muhammad Rahami, the father, told reporters outside the family restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, “I called the FBI two years ago”.
He walked away refusing to answer questions about his reasons for calling the federal agency. Later, he said to a specific question if his son was a terrorist, “No, and the FBI, they know that.”
The New York Times said the father had told the New Jersey police his son was a terrorist in 2014, when he was arrested for stabbing his brother in a domestic dispute. The information was passed on to the FBI-led joint terrorism task force. It started what is called an assessment, and interviewed the father, who recanted. A law enforcement official told the NYT that the father may have called this son a terrorist in anger.
The younger Rahami was arrested and served three months in jail, but was not indicted by a grand jury.
And that was reportedly his last brush with the law before the bombings he is alleged ethane unleashed last weekend.
