Three men, two from Boston area and man from Maine, were arrested, officials say
The site of a raid in Camden, N.J. FBI counter-terrorism agents searched the Camden business and a Cherry Hill home for evidence related to the Times Square bombing attempt, federal law enforcement officials said.
A Cherry Hill townhouse and a Camden printing company were raided and two men were questioned by federal authorities earlier today in connection with the attempted Times Square bombing.
“We are conducting investigative action in Cherry Hill and Camden,” Special Agent J.J. Klaver, a spokesman for the Philadelphia FBI office said. Klaver said no arrests were made in the raids.
A law enforcement official said that the raids were executed at a printing shop in Camden and a gated condominium complex in Cherry Hill. A man linked to both locations, Muhammad Fiaez, 37, told the Philadelphia Inquirer and other media outlets earlier today that the agents knocked at 6 a.m. on the door of the townhouse he shares with his brother, Iqbal Hinjhara, on Park Place Drive.
He said the agents questioned them separately, asked how long they had lived in the United States and what they were doing here, but never mentioned the Times Square bombing.
"Nobody asked me about Times Square," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Fiaez, a native of Pakistan, said he had lived in the United States for about 10 years and in the apartment for about four months. Fiaez also told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he works with his 49-year-old brother at the printing business, which operates as Prompt Printing Press Inc., but is registered with New Jersey as M.Y. Printing Equipment. Fiaez said the business sells printing machines, shipping them internationally.
The Camden printing company is located on Reeves Street in North Camden, next to the Iglesia Maranta Rose de Saron, a Pentecostal church. Fiaez said nothing was taken from his home nor the business and that FBI agents returned his identification papers and told him he had been "cleared" after an hour of questioning.
But two sources with knowledge of the investigation told The Star-Ledger that authorities seized computers and documents in Camden as part of a probe into how the Times Square plot was financed.
• Federal agents raid locations in Camden, Cherry Hill connected to Times Square bomb plot
• FBI raids Northeast locations in connection with failed Times Square car bombing
• President Obama plans NYPD visit to thank Times Square bomb plot investigators
• Times Square terror suspect Faisal Shahzad makes no public appearances, but talks to authorities
• Pakistani man linked to SUV bomb in Times Square is speaking to authorities
Drewniak would not say whether Christie -- a former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey who oversaw terrorism cases like a failed plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix -- was briefed on the raids in advance.
The state is "involved to a degree," but "this really is a federal undertaking as part of a very serious federal investigation," he said. He declined to elaborate, referring questions to State Homeland Security Director Charles McKenna.
McKenna declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation, but said his agents have been working with the feds.
"The FBI closely coordinated with our office," he said.
Authorities also conducted raids in Massachusetts and New York in connection with the failed Times Square car bomb. Three people were arrested, federal authorities and witnesses said. Two were from the Boston area, and one was from Maine.
“We can confirm that search warrants have been executed in several locations in the Northeast in connection with the investigation into the attempted Time Square bombing," said a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
"Three individuals encountered during the searches were taken into federal custody for alleged immigration violations. At this time we can provide no further details as the investigation is ongoing."
The searches were the product of evidence gathered in the investigation into Faisal Shahzad's alleged bombing attempt two weeks ago, but there was "no known immediate threat to the public or any active plot against the United States," FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz said.
Marcinkiewicz would not confirm any addresses, but police cordoned off a small house in Watertown, a suburb about 10 miles west of Boston, and a neighbor reported seeing an FBI raid there.
A Mobil gas station in Brookline, another Boston suburb, also was raided. The entrances and exits to the station were cordoned off by yellow tape, and FBI agents were going in and out of the building. Agents also searched a silver Honda in the parking lot, removing items from the vehicle and loading material into an SUV.
Elias Audy, 60, of Boston, is listed at the owner of the Mobil station. He was seen by reporters leaving the business afterward and had no comment.
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said locations in Long Island also were searched.
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the two people taken into custody were being held on alleged immigration violations, but he would not provide more details. Attorney General Eric Holder has told Congress that "several people" have been taken into custody for immigration violations in the Times Square case.
In describing the development at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, the attorney general said the arrests came as investigators looking into the bombing attempt executed search warrants at locations he did not specify but said they were in the Northeast.
Holder said the latest action came on today morning and was "the product of evidence gathered in the investigation" of the Times Square bombing attempt.
A Justice Department spokesman said earlier that two people are in federal custody after search warrants were issued in connection with the Times Square bombing investigation.
Shahzad, 30, is accused of trying to detonate a bomb-laden SUV in Times Square on May 1. The vehicle smoldered but didn't explode. Federal agents, tracing Shahzad through the SUV's previous owner, caught him two days later on a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates as it was departing New York's Kennedy Airport.
Shahzad has not yet appeared in court. Federal investigators said he has been cooperating and has told them he received weapons training in Pakistan.
Joe Ryan and Brian T. Murray/The Star-Ledger
The Associated Press contributed to this report.