Times Square jihad plot: Pakistan arrests retired army major

A Pakistani Army major, who was until recently a serving officer, has been arrested in connection with the failed Times Square bomb plot.

Pakistani and US sources say there is evidence that mobile phone calls were exchanged between Major Adnan Ejaz and the suspected would-be bomber, Faisal Shahzad, who was arrested on May 3 as he attempted to fly out of New York.

A Pakistani law enforcement sources said that the major had mobile phone contact with Shahzad on the day of the attempted bombing, including one conversation at the same time the bomber was allegedly parking his car loaded with propane tanks and explosives.


Shahzad, the son of a retired Pakistani Air Force officer, has told interrogators he received training from the Pakistan Taliban in its rugged mountain stronghold of Waziristan.

Pakistan's military and intelligence services have a long history of working with Jihadi organisations as an instrument of foreign policy.

However, the major's detention marks the first time someone in the country's military establishment has been directly linked to the Times Square plot.

In all, 11 people have been detained in Pakistan, including the co-owner of a prominent catering firm used by the US embassy in Islamabad.

They have not been arrested or charged, but they are suspected of having links to Times Square car bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad, 30, officials have said.

A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity said the exact connections were not yet clear.

"A number of people have been detained and we believe they knew Shahzad," he said. " What we don't know is what role, if any, they had in the plot.

"There's a lot of work still to do." Of the 11 people in custody, three were detained in Karachi and the others were taken into custody in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, where the Pakistani military is based.

However, a spokesman for Pakistan's military said Major Ejaz was no longer a serving officer and had been in detention at the time of the alleged calls.

"He was dismissed from the service last year and was retired," said Maj Gen Athar Abbas.

"Last month he was picked up because of apparent connections to proscribed, banned Punjabi militant organisations. So far we have not found any connection with Shahzad's case."

That account differs from the story told by relatives to local newspapers, deepening the mystery and raising fears of an official cover-up. They said he resigned from the Army last year because of money worries and had joined a construction firm.

They said he was arrested on May 14. Five days later his younger brother, a computer engineer was detained.

[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]