Federal agents have released the five New Jersey residents they arrested in Brooklyn on Sept. 18 after determining they did not have a hand in Saturday’s bombing in Chelsea.
Officials pulled the five over on the Belt Parkway in Bay Ridge on Sunday night after they came over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from Staten Island. Cops could not provide a time, but the arrest came around 9:30 pm, according to a local pol’s social media post.
“Update from the NYPD: About an hour ago, the FBI took several individuals into custody on the Belt Parkway in the area underneath the Verrazano Bridge, with a possible connection to the bombing last night in Chelsea,” wrote state Sen. Martin Golden (R–Bay Ridge) on Instagram at 10:30 pm on Sunday.
Police collared the individuals as authorities shut down an Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station after finding multiple pipe bombs in a garbage can. The explosives put the Feds on the trail of the five, though an FBI spokesman would not say exactly how.
Law enforcement pursued them into Brooklyn believing they may be connected to 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami — the primary suspect in a bombing that rocked Chelsea and injured 29 Saturday night. The five — three men and two women — were relatives of Rahami, according to the New York Post.
Officials now believe Rahami acted alone, according to media reports. Police arrested Rahami after a shootout in New Jersey on Monday.
