Family: Bomb guy once normal
A CLEAN-SHAVEN Akayed Ullah, six years before his metamorphosis into a would-be suicide bomber, arrived in New York with little interest in politics or religion.
A cousin of the accused subway bomber told the Daily News that relatives were confounded to learn that Ullah, one of five kids, was accused in Monday’s attack on the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
“He’s a totally different person,” the cousin said Wednesday about the jailed terror suspect. “His mind has totally changed ... We’re definitely in shock. We never expected this to happen.”
As the cousin struggled to make sense of the attack, Bangladeshi immigrant Ullah was held without bail after a federal court hearing where he appeared via video from a hospital bed.
The terror suspect was a quiet, pleasant presence when he arrived in Brooklyn back in 2011. The cousin’s father sponsored Ullah’s mother for immigration, and the rest of her family followed.
The cousin, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The News that Ullah show no signs of terrorist leanings when he first arrived. He worked in construction, as a cabbie and then as an electrician.
“I don’t know what happened here,” the cousin said. “Before, when I was in touch with him, he was a nice person. He wasn’t religious, he didn’t grow any beard, nothing like that.
“He was just a normal kid. Something must have happened to him in the past couple of years. He must have started mixing with the wrong crowd.”
Ullah embraced the Islamic faith after the death of his father from cancer, according to his cousin.
The suspect, hospitalized Monday after his homemade bomb misfired in a tunnel linking the bus terminal to the Times Square-42nd St. station, betrayed no emotion as Manhattan Federal Judge Katherine Parker read the charges against him.
When Parker inquired whether Ullah had seen a copy of the complaint against him, the suspect replied: “Yes, I do, I did. I did, yes.”
Ullah, joined in his Bellevue Hospital room by two defense lawyers, also acknowledged that he understood his rights during the brief 10-minute hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Crowley asked for detention without bail, and defense attorneys made no counteroffer before the hearing ended.
The sheets on the suspect’s bed were pulled up to his neck, covering the injuries suffered when the pipe bomb strapped to Ullah’s body detonated.
Among family members, Ullah was affectionately known by the nickname Shopu. The immigrant had lived legally in the United States since 2011 on the visa granted through his uncle.
“My father brought them here for a better life,” the cousin said. “There’s no way he could have known what would happen.”
Ullah’s livery cab license expired after he worked as a driver for three years. His cousin said relatives were outraged about Ullah’s alleged plot to kill an untold number of people in the crowded commuter tunnel.
“I’m sorry to the people of New York City for what he did,” said the cousin. “He could’ve hurt people. Thank God nobody got hurt.” According to a criminal complaint, Ullah posted a taunting Facebook message to President Trump before his botched bombing bid.
And the would-be suicide bomber said his motive in the terror plot was in part retaliation for American policies in the Middle East.
“I did it for the Islamic State,” he reportedly told police.
The cousin said he lost contact with Ullah after 2013, although he believed the alleged terror bomber was living in Brooklyn with his four siblings — two sisters, an older brother and a younger brother.
“Now my family is getting harassed (over) the whole situation,” the cousin lamented.