Pakistan reportedly detains caterer

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 21 (UPI) -- A U.S.-educated Pakistani caterer has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the failed Times Square bombing, an official said Friday.

Salman Ashrafi Khan's father told The New York Times he last saw his son when he left for work May 10. Rana Ashraf Khan, founder and chief executive officer of Hanif Rajput Caterers, said someone returned his son's car to the house and left by taxi.

No official announcement has been made of Khan's arrest. But the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad posted a warning on its Web site against using the catering company because of possible ties to terrorist activity.

The elder Khan said his son has not been in the United States since he graduated from the University of Houston in 2000. He described Salman as a religious Muslim but "definitely not an extremist."

One Western official told the Times Pakistani investigators are trying to unravel a recruitment network in the country that allegedly sought out Pakistanis living overseas. Faisal Shahzad, accused of carrying out the botched car bombing attempt in Times Square, had been living in the United States for many years and became a citizen in 2009.