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Mr. Shahzad was arrested just before midnight Monday aboard an Emirates flight. He was charged in a

five-count complaint with crimes including conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in what Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called a “terrorist plot aimed at murdering Americans.” Speaking at a
news conference in Washington, Mr. Holder said Mr. Shahzad had been
talking to investigators and had provided “useful information.”
Officials had previously said that Mr. Shahzad had implicated himself
in statements after he was pulled off the plane. At the same time, President Obama said federal investigators were looking into whether Mr. Shahzad had any ties to terrorist organizations.

Mr. Shahzad, 30, a naturalized United States citizen from Pakistan, had apparently driven to the airport in a white Isuzu Trooper that was
found in a parking lot with a Kel-Tech 9-millimeter pistol, with a
folding stock and a rifle barrel, along with several spare magazines of
ammunition, an official said. He told the authorities that he had acted
alone, but hours after he was arrested, security officials in Pakistan
said they had arrested seven or eight people in connection with the
bombing attempt.

Pakistani officials identified one of the detainees as Tauhid Ahmed and said he had been in touch with Mr. Shahzad through e-mail, and had met
him either in the United States or in the Pakistani port city of
Karachi.

Another man arrested, Muhammad Rehan, had spent time with Mr. Shahzad during a recent visit there, Pakistani officials said. Mr. Rehan was
arrested in Karachi just after morning prayers at a mosque known for
its links with the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Investigators said Mr. Rehan told them that he had rented a pickup truck and driven with Mr. Shahzad to the northwestern city of Peshawar,
where they stayed from July 7 to July 22, 2009. The account could not
be independently verified. Mr. Shahzad, who lives in Bridgeport, Conn.,
spent four months in Pakistan last year, the authorities said..

The criminal complaint charging Mr. Shahzad says that after his arrest he admitted attempting to detonate the bomb in Times Square and told
investigators that he recently received bomb-making training in
Waziristan.

The complaint says that about an hour after the prepaid phone received the calls from the Pakistan number, he called the seller twice and
later bought the Pathfinder.

The complaint also describes how investigators were able to get the Pathfinder’s vehicle identification number – pulling it from S.U.V.’s
engine block -- even though it had been stripped from the dashboard
before the S.U.V. was left in Times Square. Investigators were then
able to track down the registered owner, who had passed the vehicle on
to another person, who in turn had sold it to Mr. Shahzad.

Mr. Shahzad seemed more interested in the vehicle’s cargo compartment and seating area than its engine, even though the seller warned him
that it had mechanical problems, according to the complaint, which said
he never lifted the hood to look at the engine.

And he did not take the car for a test drive the first time he examined it, although he did so the second time, on April 24, before he bought
it for the agreed on price of $1,300, paid in 13 $100 bills in a
Bridgeport shopping center parking lot.

At that point, according to the complaint, when the seller sought to complete a bill of sale, Mr. Shahzad told the seller there was no need,
explaining that he had his own license plate, which he displayed to the
seller, who then gave him the keys and he drove the car away.

The complaint also indicates that the Pathfinders’ windows were not tinted when it was sold, but that it had tinted windows when it was
parked in Times Square with the backseat and cargo compartment packed
with gasoline, propane, fertilizer and fireworks.