Port Authority Bomber Convicted On Terror Charges, Feds Say

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The Brooklyn cab driver who detonated a pipe bomb device in the underground tunnel connecting the Port Authority and Times Square subway stations was convicted Tuesday on all counts brought against him, federal prosecutors announced.

Ullah was convicted on charges of providing material support to ISIS, using a weapon of mass destruction, bombing a place of public use, destruction and attempted destruction of property by means of fire or explosives, conducting a terrorist attack against a mass transportation system and using a destructive device during a crime of violence

“Late last year, Akayed Ullah detonated a bomb during the bustle of morning rush hour under the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Ullah’s sinister purpose was to harm and terrorize as many innocent people in his path as possible, by using deadly violence to make a political statement," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman said in a statement.

"Today, Ullah stands convicted, he faces a potential life sentence, and his purpose failed."

The convicted bomber suffered serious injuries after setting off an "improvised, low-tech explosive device," on Dec. 13, 2017. The explosive device misfired, and only three other people in the packed subway tunnel suffered minor injuries, law enforcement officials said.

Ullah lived in Flatlands, Brooklyn and worked as a cab driver before the terror attack. Ullah came to the United States on an immigrant visa from Bangladesh with his parents and siblings in February 2011, law enforcement sources said. He went on to get his green card and is a legal permanent resident.

Upon hearing the jury's verdict Ullah reportedly said that his actions were not motivated out of an allegiance to the terror group ISIS, but instead a response to President Donald Trump's statements in favor of bombing the middle east, according to NY Daily News reporter Stephen Brown.

Ullah made statements to investigators saying he carried out the attack in the name of ISIS, NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said in the days following the Dec. 2017 bombing. Law enforcement sources said Ullah became radicalized and sympathetic to ISIS while living in the U.S. but had no direct contact with the terrorist group, the Associated Press reported at the time.

Photo courtesy NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission