NYC car bomb suspect faces terror, weapons hearing

Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistan-born ex-budget analyst turned would-be terror bomber, is scheduled for arraignment Monday in federal court in Manhattan, where he will be expected to enter a plea to 10 terrorism and weapons charges in connection with his failed attempt to detonate a car-bomb in Times Square on May 1.

He faces life in prison if convicted on the most-serious counts, authorities said.

Law enforcement officials said Shahzad, who was educated in the U.S. and was living in Bridgeport, Conn., at the time of his arrest, drove a bomb-laden sport utility vehicle into crowded Times Square in the early evening of May 1, parked it and fled the area. But the quick thinking of a street vendor and a mounted police officer from Long Island enabled bomb squad officers to diffuse the terror bomb, which never went off. Shahzad was arrested aboard an Emirates airlines flight at Kennedy Airport two days later as he tried to make his way to Dubai.

During his subsequent interrogation officials said Shahzad told them he received bomb-making training at a terror camp tied to the Pakistani Taliban and said he had also received financing from terrorist connections.

Shahzad was indicted last week.

A family member -- his father's cousin -- called his arrest "a conspiracy," according to the Associated Press.