New York: The suspect in the botched car bombing in Times Square was to make a first appearance in federal court on Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Faisal Shahzad, 30, is charged with five felonies related to the May 1 botched bombing, they said.
He has been held at an undisclosed location since his May 3 arrest on charges he abandoned a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square. Authorities say he has voluntarily waived his rights to an initial court appearance while he cooperates.
Shahzad, a Connecticut resident, was arrested on a Dubai-bound plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport on charges he drove an SUV rigged with a homemade car bomb into Times Square two nights earlier, sending thousands of tourists into a panic on a busy Saturday night. The bomb didn't explode, and no one was hurt.
A cousin of his father has called his arrest "a conspiracy."
An initial appearance in court typically happens within a day or two of a suspect's arrest. The US attorney's office said Shahzad is charged with attempted use of weapons of mass destruction and attempting acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, each carrying a maximum life term.
He's charged with using a destructive device in an attempted violent crime, punishable by up to 30 years in prison" transporting and receiving explosives, punishable by up to 10 years" and attempting to damage and destroy property with fire and explosives, punishable by up to five years.
Since his arrest, Shahzad "has provided valuable intelligence from which further investigative action has been taken," the US attorney's office in Manhattan said in a statement Tuesday.
The investigation is continuing, the office said.
Federal authorities raided locations in three states last week and picked up three men on immigration violations who are suspected of providing money to Shahzad to help build the homemade bomb of fireworks, propane and battery-operated alarm clocks.
Officials in Pakistan have taken several people into custody, including two men arrested last week on suspicion of helping finance the failed plot.
Prosecutors made their announcement on the same day a lawyer wrote a Manhattan federal judge demanding that Shahzad be produced in court.
