U.S. Officials ID Men Seen Handling Suitcase In Chelsea Bombing Case
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- U.S. officials believe they have identified the two men seen handling a suitcase that was left on the street by the Chelsea bombing suspect, CBS News confirmed Wednesday.
Law enforcement officials said they are trying to contact the men, who were visiting from Egypt and have returned home.
They also said they want the suitcase returned as evidence.
Around the same time a bomb detonated on West 23rd Street at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 17, the men found another pressure cooker bomb that Ahmad Khan Rahami allegedly left inside a suitcase on West 27th Street, according to authorities.
The men are not believed to be involved in the bombing plot, but that is not certain.
"They're not in any jeopardy of being arrested,'' Jim Watters, chief of the NYPD's counterterrorism unit, said last week. "We have no reason to believe they're connected.''
Surveillance video shows Rahami rolling the suitcase down the street, then abandoning it on the sidewalk, prosecutors said.
A few minutes later, two men pass by the luggage and appear to admire it, police said. They then remove a pressure cooker from the suitcase, leave the pressure cooker on the sidewalk and walk away with the luggage.
Law enforcement officials said a series of surveillance cameras and videos were used to help identify the men.