(CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that the Justice Department anticipates charging Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad "with an act of terrorism," among other things.
"It is clear that this was a terrorist plot," Holder said. It could have caused "death and destruction in the heart of New York City."
Holder said that Shahzad has admitted involvement in what authorities have labeled an attempted terrorist attack and that the suspect has been providing useful information since his arrest Monday night.
FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said Shahzad was on the federal "no fly" list, which helped lead to Customs and Border Protection agents arresting him on a plane preparing to depart New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Hours after authorities arrested the Pakistan-American as he attempted to board a flight to Dubai, investigators in Pakistan seized a number of suspects in the bombing probe, a Pakistani intelligence source said Tuesday.
They arrested two or three people after raiding a house in Karachi where Shahzad is believed to have stayed during a recent visit to Pakistan, the source said.
Shahzad, 30, was arrested around 11:45 p.m. ET Monday at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, Holder said, and he will appear in a Manhattan federal courtroom after 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Jeffrey Toobin: What to watch for at hearing
Shahzad was on board Emirates Airlines Flight 202 to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, when the plane was called to return to the gate, a law enforcement source said.
The FBI said its agents and New York detectives then arrested Shahzad "for allegedly driving a car bomb into Times Square."
Shahzad was booked through to Islamabad, Pakistan, via Dubai, a senior airline official confirmed, and authorities arrested him moments before he was to travel to his strife-torn homeland.
Investigators cranked up their probe Tuesday, finding a 9 mm handgun with clips and ammunition in a white Isuzu that the suspect is believed to have driven to the airport, a federal law enforcement source said.
The source also says 15 bags of "standard green fertilizer" were found in the trash outside Shahzad's Shelton, Connecticut, apartment. Also found in the trash was flash powder.
Hours after the arrest, police were seen at a house in a Bridgeport, Connecticut, working-class neighborhood. Agents with the FBI and local police, including members of a bomb squad, conducted a search, and investigators removed filled plastic bags.
Investigators also were combing through Shahzad's receipts, and roommates were being interviewed.
Detectives also found a hand-drawn map in the attempted bombing probe, but it's not clear where it was found, a federal law enforcement official said.
Latest updates in Times Square bomb scare
President Obama said Tuesday that "justice will be done" in the case and that U.S. officials "will do everything in our power to protect the American people."
The failed bombing is "another sobering reminder of the times in which we live," Obama told an audience of business leaders. But the United States "will be vigilant" and "will not cower in fear," he said.
Also Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised the dogged law enforcement efforts but also said the city won't tolerate any backlash against Pakistanis or Muslims.
"This was an act designed to kill innocent civilians and strike fear into the hearts of Americans," Bloomberg said. "And I'm happy to say that it failed on both counts. We will not be intimidated by those who hate the freedoms that make the city and this country so great."
Timeline in bomb plot
Police have been engaged in a furious manhunt in the New York area for those responsible for an intended terrorist attack Saturday night in the heart of Manhattan's Times Square.
According to a source familiar with the investigation, the individuals didn't have the expertise to detonate a parked Nissan Pathfinder containing propane tanks, fertilizer and gasoline.
Authorities focused on Shahzad when they traced evidence to him from the sale of the Nissan Pathfinder used in the failed attack -- information considered the linchpin of the case.
The Nissan Pathfinder had its vehicle identification number removed from the dashboard. Police climbed under the SUV and retrieved the VIN from the bottom of its engine block.
This breakthrough led investigators to the vehicle's registered owner and then on to Shahzad, who purchased the SUV, an official said.
The Nissan Pathfinder was sold three weeks ago in a cash deal with no paperwork exchanged, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said Monday. The $1,800 deal was closed at a Connecticut shopping mall, where the buyer handed over the money and drove off, the source said.
Cell phone calls conducted for the purchase of the vehicle helped lead police to the suspect, law enforcement sources said.
Sources said investigators got cell phone information from the daughter of the Nissan Pathfinder owner. She sold the vehicle to Shahzad on behalf of her father.
She talked on the phone to Shahzad in organizing the purchase of the sport utility vehicle, which was advertised for sale on Craigslist.
Another law enforcement source said Shahzad claimed to have acted alone in the attempted bombing, but the Joint Terrorism Task Force has said it's considering the possibility that the attempt involved more than just a "lone wolf."
A woman who said she lived next door to Shahzad in Shelton, Connecticut, said there was some kind of police activity at his former residence Monday.
Brenda Thurman said Tuesday that the man she knew was quiet and claimed to work on Wall Street.
"He would wear all black and jog at night. He said he didn't like the sunlight," Thurman said.
She said that Shahzad, his wife, two children and his wife's two sisters lived next to her for about three years, moving out in July 2009.
Shahzad's wife told Thurman then that the family was moving to Missouri. A few weeks after they left, the bank foreclosed on the property and changed the locks, the neighbor said.
Court documents reveal Shahzad purchased a house that entered foreclosure proceedings last year.
Documents from Connecticut's Milford Superior Court show that Shahzad and Huma Mian purchased a home at 119 Long Hill Ave. in Shelton in July 2004. They took out a mortgage for $218,400 from Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp.
Last September, the mortgage company began foreclosure proceedings. As of December 14, Shahzad and Mian owed $207,837.
Shahzad became a U.S. citizen on April 17, 2009.
Suspect's Pakistan residency
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Shahzad has a Karachi identification card, a sign of Pakistani residency, and that his family is from volatile northwestern Pakistan, where government forces have been fighting Taliban militants, who have strongholds in the area.
Watch reaction from Pakistan on Shahzad's arrest Video
CNN's Craig Bell, Susan Candiotti, Samson Desta, Caroline Faraj, Deborah Feyerick, David Fitzpatrick and Jeanne Meserve contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/04/...pt=T1&iref=BN1
