Faisal Shahzad

Faisal Shahzad (born June 30, 1979) is a Pakistani-American citizen who was arrested for the attempted May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing.

His father was a senior official in the Pakistan Air Force, holding the rank of air vice-marshal (the equivalent of a two-star general) before leaving the air force in 1992.

His children grew up in privilege.

He is a deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan.

He had begun as a common airman, but became a fighter pilot excelling in aerobatics, and was posted in England and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Shahzad is probably of mixed ethnic background because the Government of Pakistan stated that he is of Kashmiri descent but Shahzad identified himself as Pashtun.

The New York Times reported that Shahzad's life seems to have followed a "'familiar narrative about radicalization in the West: his anger toward his adopted country seemed to have grown in lockstep with his personal struggles. He had lost his home to foreclosure last year. At the same time he was showing signs of a profound, religiously infused alienation.'"

Shahzad's family moved with his father's military postings, and the boy attended primary school in Saudi Arabia, according to documents found outside his Shelton home.

He later attended several schools in Pakistan.

In high school, he received Ds in English composition and microeconomics.

While he was growing up, the family had servants, chauffeurs, and armed guards in keeping with his father's military rank.

Kifayat Ali, a man who said he is a cousin of Shahzad's father, insisted that Shahzad's family had no political affiliations.

He said the arrest of Shahzad appeared to be a "conspiracy so that the [Americans] can bomb more Pashtuns", and that Shahzad "was never linked to any political or religious party [in Pakistan]".

Since 1997, he had lived mostly in the United States, attending college on extended visas, and earning an undergraduate degree and an MBA at the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Shahzad studied for five semesters in 1997 and 1998 at the now-defunct Southeastern University in Washington D.C., where he took mostly business classes.

He received several Cs and Ds, an F in basic statistics, and a grade point average of 2.78.

In December 1998, he was granted an F-1 student visa.

In 1999 he was placed on a US Customs (later merged into DHS) travel lookout list called the "Traveler Enforcement Compliance System".

In 2000, Shahzad transferred to the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

He worked for two major companies, Arden and Affinion Group (2006-2009), as a financial analyst before quitting his jobs.

He separated from his wife, Huma Mian, in 2009 and she returned with their children to her parents in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

He was born in Pakistan in either Karachi or Pabbi (a village in Nowshera District east of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan), the youngest of four children.

His father was born in the village of Mohib Banda (near Peshawar).

Shahzad comes from a wealthy, well-educated family in northwest Pakistan.

Shahzad's father, Baharul Haq, lives in the Peshawar suburb of Hayatabad.

On June 21, 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt.

Throughout his court appearance, Shahzad was unrepentant.

The United States Attorney indicated there was no plea deal, so Shahzad faced the maximum sentence, a mandatory life term.

Shahzad was arrested approximately 53 hours after the attempt, at 11:45 p.m. EDT on May 3, 2010, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

He was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport, after boarding Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai.

His final destination had been Islamabad, Pakistan.

A federal complaint was filed on May 4, alleging that Shahzad committed five terrorism-related crimes, including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Shahzad waived his constitutional right to a speedy hearing.

Shahzad has reportedly implicated himself in the crimes, and has given information to authorities since his arrest.

Shahzad admitted training in bomb-making at a camp run by the Taliban in the Waziristan region in Pakistan along the Afghan border.

As of May 7, Shahzad was continuing to answer questions and provide intelligence to investigators.

Pakistani officials have arrested more than a dozen people in connection with the plot.

After pleading guilty to a 10-count indictment in June, on October 5, 2010, Shahzad was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole; the charges had included attempted conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting an act of a terrorist attack.

Shahzad is married and the father of two young children, both born in the United States.