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LI Pakistani Man Upset FBI Questioned Him About Shahzad

2010_05_iqbal.jpg On Thursday, the FBI conducted raids in Massachusetts, Maine, NJ and Long Island to find possible associates of Times Square terror suspect Faisal Shahzad. It's believed that Shahzad received $4,000 during a meeting at a Dunkin' Donuts in Ronkonkoma, and some Pakistani men on Long Island were questioned. But one is particularly unhappy about being profiled and connected to Shahzad.

Mohammad Iqbal tells WCBS 2 that the FBI spent hours at his home, questioning him, taking his cellphones and checking out his computer. Perhaps pointedly wearing his U.S. Census shirt, Iqbal said, "My oldest son, 9 year old, when he went to school this morning and said I'm afraid I'm going to go to school and somebody going to ask, 'Oh you're dad, he's a terrorist?" He emphatically stated, "I never seen [Shahzad] in my whole life -- except newspaper and the TV." Iqbal says that the FBI asked him if he used "halwala" to move money, to which he said, "I have five kids. You think I'm going to have that much money to deliver to somebody?"

There are some details about the men taken in custody: It unclear how the Boston area men may have known Shahzad, but Pir Khan is a cab driver and Aftab Khan (no relation) worked at a gas station. And the NY Times says Mohammed Shafiq Rahman is "a computer programmer who was taken into custody in Portland, Me." Rahman's boss asked him about all the terrorism-related news about his native Pakistan, and Rahman allegedly said, "It’s hard. As a matter of fact I happen to know the guy accused of being the bomber in Times Square. I haven’t seen him for eight or nine years, but back then he was a pretty simple person, had no dogma, no theory, just went with the flow... So it’s hard for me to understand this, but maybe that’s what they look for, what terrorist organizations look for."

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Comments [rss]

  • No Brain Stem

    He can call me if he needs legal advice. i send them the cease and desist now.

  • youngpro

    oh, and the consistent misspelling of 'sent' versus 'can send'

  • youngpro

    interesting, you and felix both have quite the thing for animals, the mets, and christine quinn, and your sn only comes out when poor little felix is being put to task.

  • Phil

    I heard they also questioned Babu from the Seinfeld show.

  • longacre

    "My oldest son, 9 year old, when he went to school this morning and said I'm afraid I'm going to go to school and somebody going to ask, 'Oh you're dad, he's a terrorist?"

    It's Long Island, all the white kids called you and your son a terrorist behind your back long before this incident.

  • Stan LS

    The implication being that all white kids are racist? That's awesome! Let me guess, you think you're a liberal?

  • bleeckerite

    We're past the days of keeping Japanese-Americans in internment camps. But in all honesty, terrorists are well aware of their ability to carry out transactions like these. Is it discrimination? Yes, I'm not going to deny that. But in the interest of national security, and in addition to the fact that this man is completely innocent, I feel like it's justified. A real problem is OUR own perception of these people - we shouldn't be so quick to brand every Pakistani-American as a terrorist. But, our attitudes are also very hard to control.

  • MrManhattan

    "we shouldn't be so quick to brand every Pakistani-American as a terrorist."

    Of course not. but this guy was a Lawn Guylander. That should constitute reasonable suspicion, right?

  • fosiacat

    boo. fucking. hoo.

  • MrManhattan

    Wow, Gothamist published a picture of Mohammad. I guess you're braver than Comedy Central!

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