Islamabad: In a major breakthrough in the Times Square bomb plot, a man believed to be the accomplice of the main suspect Faisal Shahzad has been arrested in Pakistan. The arrest was not previously disclosed.
The suspect arrested in Pakistan has reportedly admitted to helping Faisal. He is also said to have connections with the Pakistan Taliban.
US intelligence officials say the suspect allegedly provided money to Faisal and took him to Pakistan's tribal areas for bomb-making training. (
Read: Three in custody may have given money to bomb suspect)
Authorities say he is providing an "independent stream" of evidence that the Pakistani Taliban was behind the New York terror plot.
Meanwhile, three Pakistani men who authorities say supplied funds to Faisal Shahzad were arrested on Thursday in a series of raids across the Northeast as the (Federal Beaureau of Investigation) FBI followed the money trail in the failed attack.
Investigators said it was not yet clear whether the three men knew how the money was going to be used.
Calling the arrests of the three Pakistani men a "significant" step, US Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington, "These are people who are connected to Mr Shahzad. We're still trying to determine exactly what the nature of that connection was. There's at least a basis to believe that one of the things that they did was provide him with funds and so we're trying to trace back."
The men -- two seized in the Boston area, one in Maine -- were arrested as federal authorities searched homes and businesses in a coordinated series of raids centered in the Boston suburbs, on New York's Long Island and in New Jersey.
They were arrested on immigration violations -- administrative, not criminal, charges. They were not charged with any terrorism-related crimes. But their names were not released. (With AP input)