Revealed: Wife of the chicken-shack bomber fled America with their child and flew to Pakistan just DAYS before he launched terror attacks and is now being questioned in the UAE

• e-mail

The wife of New York and New Jersey bombing suspect, who flew to Pakistan before the terror attacks, is being questioned by American authorities.

Ahmad Rahami's wife, Asia Bibi Rahimi, was intercepted by authorities in the United Arab Emirates after leaving the US for Pakistan days before the terror attacks. She is currently said to be cooperating with authorities.

Rahami's mother also left the U.S., flying to Turkey on August 24 - a couple of weeks before her son was accused on planting multiple bombs in New Jersey and New York which injured 29 people.

Scroll down for video 

The wife of New York and New Jersey bombing suspect, Asia Bibi Rahimi (pictured in 2014) who flew to Pakistan before the terror attacks, is being questioned by American authorities

Ahmad Rahami ( left, and on his arrest mugshot for attempted murder, right) has been charged with five counts of attempted murder and use of a weapon of mass destruction

Rahami was charged on Tuesday with using a weapon of mass destruction and bombing public places.

He is also charged with five counts of attempted murder of law enforcement officials, and two gun charges, after a shootout with cops on Monday. He remains on $5.2million bail in hospital.

Ahmad Rahami met and married Asia Bibi in 2011 while in Pakistan and the two had a child together, law enforcement sources say.

When Rahami tried to return to the United States, he lobbied for his wife to join him in New Jersey. They were told she would have to remain in Pakistan until she'd had her child, ABC News reports.

In May 2014, she was granted entry with their baby and granted a U.S. Green Card. 

Rahami also has another child with his childhood sweetheart Maria Mena.

Mena, who broke up with Rahami some time ago, has accused him of being a deadbeat dad who hated America and refused to pay his child support.

Maria Mena, the ex-girlfriend of suspected terrorist Ahmad Rahami, filed for full custody of their nine-year-old daugher on Tuesday. Above, a police officer stands guard outside Mena's home in New Jersey on Tuesday

Since news of Rahami's arrest, Mena has filed for full custody of their nine-year-old daughter. 

In court papers obtained by DailyMail.com, Maria Mena petitions the court to be the sole guardian of their daughter due to the ongoing criminal case. 

'Requesting full custody, defendant has been charged with police attempted murder, and is currently under protective services after possible terrorist related activity in NYC,' Mena writes in the latest court documents. 

It's unclear how active 28-year-old Rahami had been in his daughter's life. Mena claimed in previous interviews that she hadn't seen him in two years, after seeing him become more anti-American.

Mena and Rahami dated while attending Edison High School, and classmates said she was pregnant at prom.

Their young love was apparently not well received by Rahami's father, who organized for him to visit Afghanistan right before their daughter was born. 

Rahami was arrested on Monday after a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey  

 Rahami (pictured on Monday) is suspected in two bombings and an attempted bombing over the weekend in New York City and New Jersey

The Rahami family business is searched on Monday in Elizabeth, New Jersey 

While he was critical of American culture compared to the strict Islamic rules of his homeland, Maria never believed he'd never go as far as to hurt innocent people.

'He seemed standoffish to American culture, but I never thought he would cross the line,' she said. 'I never thought he would do something like this,' she said through tears. 'I think he was brainwashed.'  

They broke up sometime after the child was born, and after Rahami returned from Afghanistan he stopped paying for child support as he took longer and longer trips back to the Middle East. At one point, Mena had to sue him for nearly $1,000 in child support. 

The last trip that Maria, 26, was aware of, Rahami brought back a wife and child.

While they were together, she says he would often compared American culture to life in Afghanistan, saying how 'there weren't homosexuals in Afghanistan.'

'Death To Your OPPRESSION': The chicken shack terrorist's journal

The 'Manhattan bomber's' journal revealed he hoped to die a martyr and pledged that his 'bombs will be heard in the streets', authorities say.

'Death To Your OPPRESSION,' Ahmad Khan Rahami ranted about the US government in his diary, found by on the suspect by arresting officers.

The journal also praises the likes of Osama bin Laden and accuses America of 'slaughter' in the Middle East.

'Death To Your OPPRESSION,' Ahmad Khan Rahami wrote of the US government in his diary, which praises the likes of Osama bin Laden and accuses America of 'slaughter' in the Middle East

A criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court provided the chilling motivations that authorities said drove the Afghan-born U.S. citizen to set off explosives in New York and New Jersey, injuring at least 30 people.

Prosecutors say the document ends: 'The sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets. Gun shots to your police. Death To Your OPPRESSION.' 

The federal criminal complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, also alleges that Rahami began buying bomb components in June, purchasing citric acid, circuit boards, ball bearings and electric igniters on eBay.  

Advertisement

He was also heavily critical of the military, once pointing out a military character as 'the bad person' to his young daughter.

Maria wouldn't reveal why she and Rahami broke up but did say that she did not want him anywhere near their daughter. 

'I didn't want him to see my daughter,' she said. 'If he loved her, he would have paid child support. My greatest fear is that he would try to take my daughter.'

Rahami now faces five charges of attempted murder and two gun charges for the gunfight he had with police on Monday when police took him into custody. He is expected to face further charges for the the bombings in New York City and Seaside Park, New Jersey on Saturday. 

Above is the second pressure cooker bomb found in Chelsea that never detonated. Investigators were allegedly able to identify Rahami from fingerprints on the device

The first Manhattan bomb, which injured 29 people, also destroyed the New York dumpster. Above, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (right) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (second right) survey the scene on Sunday

Twenty-nine people were injured in the New York City bombing while no one was injured in Seaside Park, where a military charity race was due to take place. Rahami is also considered a person of interest for the five pipe bombs found near the Elizabeth, New Jersey train station on Sunday. 

Law enforcement say it was fingerprints left behind on an unexploded pressure cooker bomb in Manhattan that led them to Rahami, who wasn't on any terror watch lists.

Investigators found the prints, duct tape and a cell phone triggering device, which they traced to Rahami, according to the complaint.

A criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court had now provided some clues to the motivations that authorities said drove the Afghan-born U.S. citizen to set off explosives.

The 'Manhattan bomber's' journal revealed he hoped to die a martyr and pledged that his 'bombs will be heard in the streets', authorities say. 

Rahami's journal, found by on the suspect by arresting officers, praises the likes of Osama bin Laden and accuses America of 'slaughter' in the Middle East. 

In it, he vowed to martyr himself rather than be caught after setting off explosives in New York and New Jersey, while it accuses the U.S. government of 'slaught(er) against the mujahidean (sic) be it Afghanistan, Iraq, Sham [Syria], Palestine ...'

Prosecutors say the document ends: 'The sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets. Gun shots to your police. Death To Your OPPRESSION.' 

Investigators have also discovered video, recorded two days before the terror attacks, and recovered from a family member's phone, which shows Rahami appearing to test out his bomb making skills.

Investigators are looking into Rahami's overseas travel, including a visit to Pakistan a few years ago, and want to know whether he received any money or training from extremist organizations.

They believe he may have received terrorist training on his 'radicalization' trip to Pakistan where he visited the Taliban stronghold of Quetta.

The New York explosive devices contained aluminum powder, ammonium nitrate and HMTD - a chemical used in multiple terrorist plots against the West including the July 7, 2005, London bombings - by al Qaeda, CNN reports.

Investigators believe that Rahami's use of the chemical indicates overseas training as there have been very few 'lone wolf' attacks have successfully used the tricky substance.

Confused: Rahami's father, Mohammad Sr (right) said he didn't know of his son's alleged plans, and that he's 'not sure what's happening exactly'

The FBI is now looking into Rahami's multiple, and lengthy stays in Afghanistan and Pakistan between 2011 and 2014 to see whether there is evidence of terror training.

Rahami underwent screening during his return from the Middle East and was flagged to the FBI has part of a batch of people who could require extra scrutiny.

The bulletins are fairly common - with dozens of people every week being flagged for extra security.

An official told CNN it was not what Rahami said in interview but the fact he'd traveled to regions where terrorists are located multiple times.

Despite the flag, nothing was done until 2014, when the FBI opened up an 'assessment,' the least intrusive form of an FBI inquiry, based on comments from his father after a domestic dispute, the bureau said in a statement.

'The FBI conducted internal database reviews, interagency checks and multiple interviews, none of which revealed ties to terrorism,' the bureau said.

A law enforcement official said the FBI spoke with Rahami's father in 2014 after agents learned of his concerns that the son could be a terrorist. 

The court documents of Maria Mena who has filed for a restraining order against her ex

Maria Mena, Rahami's ex-wife filed an application for the full custody of their daughter 

During the inquiry, the father backed away from talk of terrorism and told investigators that he simply meant his son was hanging out with the wrong crowd, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Rahami's father told reporters Tuesday outside the family's fried-chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that he called the FBI at the time because Rahami 'was doing real bad,' having stabbed the brother and hit his mother. Rahami was not prosecuted in the stabbing; a grand jury declined to indict him.

'But they checked, almost two months, and they say, 'He's OK, he's clear, he's not terrorist.' Now they say he's a terrorist,' the father said. Asked whether he thought his son was a terrorist, he said: 'No. And the FBI, they know that.'

However, he denied any knowledge of his son's plans to bomb New York and New Jersey last weekend. 

TIMELINE OF TERROR: HOW FBI MANHUNT UNFOLDED OVER 48 HOURS 

In just 48 hours New York and New Jersey have been shaken by a series of bombings and attempted bombings. Authorities are investigating the possibility that it could be the result of a terrorist cell operating in the city.  that authorities believe may be the result of a terrorist cell operating in the city but current indications are that the blasts are the work of a lone wolf. Here's what happened and when

SATURDAY

1) 9.30am: Pipe bomb detonated at military fun run near Seaside Park, New Jersey

The pipe bomb exploded in a waste bin along the proposed route of the third annual Semper Five 5K run. The race had been delayed, so no one was hurt. Two other unexploded devices were found in the same garbage can. They were attached to flip-phone timers.

2) 8.30pm: First 'pressure cooker' bomb explodes on West 23 St in Chelsea, Midtown Manhattan, New York

The bomb, which was placed in or near a metal trash dumpster at a building site, injured 29 people, including a boy of eight. One person was seriously injured, but all 29 were released from hospital by Monday morning.

3) 10pm: Unexploded second 'pressure cooker' bomb found on West 27 St in Chelsea

A resident found a pressure cooker with a flip-phone timer outside her home and called in police. Two State Troopers located the bomb, which was taken to a police firing range in The Bronx to be defused. It was defused at 8pm Sunday. All evidence is being taken to Quantico for analysis. 

SUNDAY

4) 8.30pm: Five IEDs are found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey

Two homeless men found a backpack in a wastepaper basket by a railroad bridge near Elizabeth Station. Upon spotting the bombs they ran to a nearby police station. Police then evacuated the area and brought in a robot to defuse the bombs. At 1am the robot cut the wrong wire, causing one bomb to detonate. No one was hurt, and the bombs were relocated.

5) 8.45pm: Five people stopped by FBI agents while driving through Brooklyn towards Verrazano Bridge

FBI agents pulled over the group, who were driving an SUV, and detained them for questioning. On Monday   NYC FBI assistant director William Sweeney Jr announced in a press conference that all five had been released without charge. He said at the same conference that Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, of New Jersey was the only suspect being considered in this case. Early reports indicated that the vehicle stopped by the FBI contained weapons and bomb-making equipment, but these details were not mentioned by Sweeney. 

MONDAY

6) 6am: FBI raids home of suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami in Elizabeth, New Jersey

FBI agents struck the home of Rahami and his father above 'First American Fried Chicken' restaurant owned by the family at 104 Elmora Avenue. Soon after Rahami was named by the Bureau as a suspect in the case.

7) Noon: Rahami spotted in Linden, NJ, sleeping in a bar doorway 

Harry Barnes, owner of Merdies bar on Elizabeth Avenue, spotted Rahami sleeping in the doorway of his establishment. He asked the man to move in case he cut himself on broken glass, but when Rahami looked up, Barnes recognized him and ran to call police. Rahami fired on approaching officers, instigating a shoot-out in which he was wounded in the shoulder and arrested. Two officers were also injured. 

Advertisement