NEW YORK/BOSTON, (Reuters) – Investigators arrested  three people linked to the suspect in the failed Times Square  bombing during raids yesterday in suburbs of New York, Boston  and Philadelphia, but officials said there was no new threat.

The three arrested may have provided money to the accused  bomber Faisal Shahzad, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said.

The Boston-area searches occurred at a house in Watertown,  where two people were known to have been taken into custody,  and at a gasoline station in affluent Brookline.

Federal agents could be seen carrying boxes, envelopes and  a crowbar out of the multifamily building in Watertown, a  working-class town with a large Middle-Eastern community.

Massachusetts authorities said the people had been under  surveillance for some time but did not specify how long.

“These are people who are connected to Mr. Shahzad, we’re  still trying to determine exactly what the nature of that  connection was,” Holder told reporters in Washington.

“There’s at least a basis to believe that one of the things  that they did was provide him with funds,” he said, calling the  arrests a significant step.

He said investigators were looking into whether those  arrested knew what the money would be used for. “That’s one of  the things we’re going to be trying to determine,” he said.

A law enforcement source said the two people arrested near  Boston were Pakistani.

The third arrest occurred in South Portland, Maine,  according to local media.

Portland, Maine, was the site where two accused Sept. 11  attackers, one of them suspected mastermind Mohammed Atta, left  to fly to Boston, where they hijacked one of the jetliners that  crashed into the World Trade Center.