An as-yet unclear jihad money trail. “Would-be bomber got cash in Mass.: Details unclear on exchange, Taliban link,” by Shelley Murphy and Martin Finucane for the Boston Globe, June 23 (thanks to Block Ness):
Two months before Faisal Shahzad tried to set off a car bomb in busy Times Square in New York City, he came to Massachusetts to pick up $5,000 in cash sent by a member of the Pakistani Taliban. But just how that transaction occurred is still unclear.
Shahzad acknowledged the trip while pleading guilty Monday in US District Court in Manhattan to attempting the botched attack on May 1….
But a lawyer for the two detained men, Pir D. Khan, a 43-year-old taxi driver, and his cousin, Aftab Ali Khan, 27, who shared an apartment in Watertown, said they both deny any connection to Shahzad or the Ta liban.
“They disapproved of that act,” said Saher J. Macarius, a Framingham lawyer who represents the Khans on immigration charges, referring to the attempted Times Square bombing.
Macarius said he asked the Khans if they gave Shahzad money without realizing what it was for, and both said they did not handle money for him.
“They insisted that they have no connection with Faisal,” Macarius said….
Shahzad, 30, of Bridgeport, Conn., admitted in court Monday that after receiving bomb-making training from the Taliban in Pakistan, he returned to the United States in February with $12,000 and a plan to carry out terrorist attacks on American soil.
But he quickly ran out of money, according to the indictment, so on Feb. 25 Shahzad traveled to Massachusetts to collect $5,000 sent by an unidentified accomplice who worked for Tehrik-e-Taliban. The indictment does not describe the money transfer. Then, on April 10, Shahzad picked up another $7,000 in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., that had been sent at the direction of the same accomplice….