Pakistan Arrests Army Major, Embassy Caterer Over Times Square Plot

Arrests Add to Convoluted Trail of Plot

From the arrest of a Connecticut financial analyst as the primary suspect, the Times Square bombing has slowly unraveled to reveal a bizarre collection of alleged accomplices for an attack officials are blaming on the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The latest arrests include a major in the Pakistani Army, who officials described as “disaffected,” and perhaps even more oddly, the co-owner of an extremely successful catering company.

The caterer, who was said to have studied in the United States, was reportedly recruited in the hope that he could be used to help bomb a “big gathering of foreigners,” since his is the company of choice for catering at many embassies in Pakistan.

Less is known about the other arrestees, other than that all were picked up in Islamabad and one of them was said to work for a cell phone provider. All are in the custody of the Pakistani ISI, and may be held for months or even years without being charged with anything.

Other arrests have been reported across both the US and Pakistan since the incident, but while the primary suspect, Faisal Shahzad, is said to be cooperating closely with officials, there seems to be little obvious link amongst the detainees.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.