The Muslim man arrested in a New Mexico compound along with four other adults and 11 children last week once allegedly tested positive for an explosive residual substance before a flight to Saudi Arabia three years after 9/11 - but was never detained.

Siraj Wahhaj Jr is the man who was allegedly armed while holding the group of starving children in a ramshackle site out in the New Mexico desert before Taos County sheriff’s deputies raided the compound and arrested him.

Wahhaj, who was wanted by authorities after his disabled three-year-old son, Abdul Ghani, was reported missing in Georgia, was allegedly training children to commit school shootings.

Siraj Wahhaj is the man who was allegedly armed while holding the group of starving children in a ramshackle site out in the New Mexico desert before Taos County sheriff’s deputies raided the compound and arrested him

Wahhaj, who was wanted after his disabled three-year-old son, Abdul Ghani, was reported missing in Georgia, allegedly trained children to commit school shootings. Abdul Ghani’s remains were found at the compound (above) on what would have been his fourth birthday

Abdul Ghani’s remains were found at the compound on what would have been his fourth birthday.

Siraj’s two sisters, his wife, and a friend were also arrested and charged.

A retired New York Police Department detective said on Sunday that news of the arrest of Wahhaj did not surprise him because of the family’s alleged links to extremism.

Michael Zotto told WPIX-TV that after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the NYPD began monitoring the Masjid al Taqwa mosque on Fulton Street in Brooklyn.

That mosque was run by Imam Siraj Wahhaj Sr, Siraj Wahhaj’s father.

‘Wahhaj himself, Senior, was always espousing hatred for America,’ Zotto said.

Michael Zotto (above), a retired New York Police Department detective, said on Sunday that news of the arrest of Wahhaj did not surprise him because of the family’s alleged links to extremism

Zotto said that after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the NYPD began monitoring the Masjid al Taqwa mosque (above) on Fulton Street in Brooklyn

‘He wanted to start a caliphate government here, a Muslim government here.’

Wahhaj Sr. told reporters at a news conference from his mosque that he was shocked to hear that his son was allegedly training children to commit violence.

‘I think my son can be extreme sometimes, but not radical, like killing people, God forbid,’ the imam said.

Imam Siraj Wahhaj, 68, the father of three of the adults arrested in New Mexico, is the head of the Masjid al Taqwa

‘He’s just a little high strung.

‘You can imagine right now I’m feeling a lot of emotions.’

But Zotto said that the mosque’s links to extremism are well known.

‘There was definitely guns being bought from that mosque,’ Zotto said.

‘I would say a lot of the Muslims in that mosque, who were pretty much moderate Muslims, they would report to us, the NYPD.’

Authorities, however, never prosecuted anyone from the mosque on weapons charges.

Zotto claims that members of the mosque received martial arts training to learn how to disarm police officers.

He also alleges that Wahhaj Sr was linked to military-style training camps in upstate New York and other parts of the country.

Wahhaj Sr is also alleged to have had ties with two of the most notorious terrorists to strike at New York.

The imam is alleged to have frequented another Brooklyn mosque that was said to have been visited by Mohammed Atta (left), the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers. Wahhaj Sr also testified as a character witness for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (right), who died in prison after he was convicted for plotting to blow up New York City landmarks in the 1990s

The NYPD alleges that Wahhaj Sr once entered the Al Farooq mosque in Brooklyn that was believed to have been visited by Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers.

Last week, prosecutors released documents which said that Wahhaj Sr was a character witness for Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, according to CBS News.

Abdel Rahman was the ‘blind sheikh’ who was convicted in 1995 of plotting terrorist attacks in the United States. He was sentenced to life in federal prison.

The Egyptian cleric died behind bars last year.

An NYPD document also alleges that Wahhaj Jr had traces of explosives on him while flying from New York to Saudi Arabia in 2004.

‘During one of our investigations into the activities of Siraj Wahhaj and his son, in 2004, Siraj Wahhaj Junior was flying to Saudi Arabia from NYC, when he was tested for foreign substances by TSA agents and he tested positive for Pentax, an explosive substance,’ according to the NYPD.

The imam's daughters Subhanah (left) and Hujrah (right) were also arrested and are in custody

Lucas Morton, the husband of Subhannah, also appeared in court with his head covered with a towel, apparently folded in a style resembling a plain white keffiyeh. Also there was the imam's daughter, Jany Leveille (right)

‘However, TSA choose not to detain him.’

Wahhaj Jr is alleged to have told his three-year-old son’s mother that he wanted to perform an exorcism on the child because he was possessed by the devil.

The suspects are being jailed without bail in New Mexico and one of them, Lucas Morton, also faces a charge of harboring a felon.

He is accused of refusing to tell authorities the younger Siraj Wahhaj's location during the compound raid. Wahhaj eventually was found armed with multiple firearms, including an assault rifle, authorities said.