Times Square Bomb Plot SUV Recently Sold On Craigslist for Cash

By: CBS News Investigates
Topics: News

Sources tell CBS News the last registered owner of the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder - found in Times Square Saturday night - told authorities he recently sold the vehicle to a "Middle Eastern" or "Hispanic" looking man for $1,300 cash in $100 bills on Craigslist.

Authorities interviewed the Pathfinder's registered owner Sunday night, but say he is not a suspect in the case.

The vehicle identification number on the Pathfinder had been removed from the dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine and axle. Its license plates came from a car found in a Connecticut repair shop.

In addition to this lead, police are also trying to track down a man seen on a surveillance tape released by NYPD earlier this morning, which shows a man in his 40s in Shubert Alley near Times Square removing a dark colored shirt to reveal a red shirt underneath and looking around "furtively."

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Authorities are also reviewing a tape, yet to be released, shot by a Pennsylvania tourist who was filming the mounted police officer, Wayne Rhatigan, who initially responded to the suspicious vehicle.

More on the Attempted Times Square Bombing

Possible Bomb Suspect Caught on Tape

Bloomberg on NYC Bomb Scare

Task Force Seeks Car Bomber

After NYC Scare, Pakistan Taliban Vows Attacks

Mayor: Times Square Bomb Not Linked to Al Qaeda

Napolitano: Not All Bomb Attempts May Fail

Times Square Bomb Threat: Ordinary yet Deadly

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by noloyalisti May 5, 2010 2:40 PM EDT

Maybe the United State should stop doing heinous terrorist acts all over the world. Maybe we should stop killing people for the benefit of our rich, greedy, corrupt big corporations.

Maybe Mexico should send some drones to take out drug dealers in this country who are causing all the mayhem in Mexico with the drug cartel. Is some innocent people are killed, it's just collateral damage.

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by RedWings_ninety_one May 5, 2010 2:55 PM EDT: You have a lot of maybes. Perhaps you should give your insight to the president, someone with the power to do the things that you have in mind.


by RedWings_ninety_one May 5, 2010 1:57 PM EDT: Did the seller make sure there weren't too many choking sounds in the buyers name?; Reply to this comment


by bradkt1 May 4, 2010 3:08 PM EDT: Thankfully, the one thing that these terrorists are really good at is recruiting morons.; Reply to this comment


by 2_cents May 4, 2010 2:12 PM EDT: None of this story seems true, actually all the reports look like a really bad B movie. I mean they are saying casualties, come on, this is most peoples 4th of July in a car! yeah explosion yeah glass broke but casualties, give me a brake. This is just a reason for us to scare people and F with Pakistan. i just dont get why they dont say hey Pakistan is harboring terrorists and we need to do something instead of staging this obvious fake attack. If you believe this I have a bridge to sell you, seriously its really cheap. If this were a real attack it would have been made of something that could have done something and maybe even fertilizer that was explosive. Oh its not amateurish but they didnt know what fertilizer to use, come on, its called GOOGLE. What a joke; Reply to this comment


by dkb218 May 4, 2010 2:07 PM EDT: sorry - those should say "borders" not boarders.; Reply to this comment


by dkb218 May 4, 2010 2:04 PM EDT: We New Yorkers have been lucky up until now. I hope we continue to be so.

I wonder what closing the boarder - as wolverine45 calls for in this case would have done? The guy was an American citizen. As far as I know, Mexicans haven't attempted to blow anything up. You want to close the boarders? Reach out to your elected officials and have then do away with NAFTA and CAFTA. After those two bills, we have no more boarders. Mexico, USA and Canada are one big happy country now.; Reply to this comment


by wolverine45 May 3, 2010 10:20 PM EDT: WHY DOESNT OBAMA DO THE RIGHT THING FOR AMERICA AND FOR ITS PEOPLE AND CLOSE THE BORDERS...BECAUSE HE HATES YOUR FRICKIN GUTS AND WANTS THE COUNTRY BROUGHT TO ITS KNEES AND USING 30 MILLION CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIENS AS PAWNS HIM AND THE OTHER WASHINGTON TRAITORS PLAN TO DESTROY THE USA IS WORKING PERFECTLY.; Reply to this comment

by hillbillyvol May 3, 2010 6:51 PM EDT

We need to have finger prints on every foreign visitor to the United States.

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by tokyo_jim May 3, 2010 7:12 PM EDT: Every foreigner who enters the US on an airline is finger printed. Been doing so over the last several years.


by wolverine45 May 3, 2010 10:15 PM EDT: there are 30 million criminal illegal aliens in america now you can bet your ass some of them are mooslim terrorist and its only a matter or time before there is a mushroom cloud over nyc, and do the traitors in washington care? course not or they would seal the borders up now, today, and stop the flow of over 1000 illegal everyday into america. They care more about votes and cheap labor than american citizens saftey. UNCLE SAM HATES YOUR GUTS, BUT HE LOVES ILLEGAL ALIENS!!


by novamba May 5, 2010 12:39 PM EDT: wolvetard...did you know this cat is a US citizen? as was timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols...you are a buffoon...

by DL713 May 3, 2010 6:33 PM EDT

Interesting how different groups are hoping and praying the terrorist is from some right wing extremist group, like the one all the gray headed grandmas belong to, the Tea Party. Go figure.

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by PVperson2 May 3, 2010 6:41 PM EDT: I haven't seen any mention of such a hope or is it only yours?


by PVperson2 May 3, 2010 6:44 PM EDT: By the way DL, those people carrying assault rifles at Bagger rallies didn't look like "gray headed grandmas" to me.


by us_1776 May 3, 2010 6:47 PM EDT: I would be disappointed if this was done by any American citizen.


by FF69 May 3, 2010 7:28 PM EDT: to PVperson2: you are right it was a Black guy carrying an "assualt" rifle as you incorrectly called it. Assault rifle: Noun-a military rifle capable of both automatic and semiautomatic fire, utilizing an intermediate-power cartridge. But you didn't see that whle you were watching MSNBC because they cropped the footage to fit their theme. D-Bag!


by blessedkids01 May 3, 2010 9:59 PM EDT: PVperson2, then I suggest you catch the repeat of Hannity and listen to Bob Beckel say just that: he is saying it was more than likely a right winger !!!

by dollylanna May 3, 2010 6:26 PM EDT

They should be able to trace the email that responded to the ad.

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by drthvader May 3, 2010 6:40 PM EDT: good thought! Will they do it?


by FF69 May 3, 2010 7:29 PM EDT: what if the guy posting the ad left his phone number and the person that purchased the vehicle used a stolen or cloned cell phone?