NEW YORK/BOSTON – Investigators probing the failed Times Square bombing arrested several people during raids in New York, Boston and Philadelphia suburbs yesterday, but officials said there was no new attack threat.
Three people were taken into federal custody for alleged immigration violations in the raids, said authorities, who would not elaborate on any link between those detained and the incident on May 1st, when a car containing a crude bomb was found parked in the busy New York neighbourhood.
The Boston-area searches occurred at a house in Watertown, where two people were known to have been taken into custody, and a petrol station in Brookline.
Federal agents could be seen carrying boxes, envelopes and a crowbar out of a multifamily building in Watertown, a working class town with a large Middle-Eastern community.
The people taken into custody had been under surveillance, said Col Marian McGovern of the Massachusetts police, but she declined to say for how long.
Governor Deval Patrick added: “There is no basis for believing there is a threat to the people of Massachusetts.” – (Reuters)