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| Dad of NYC subway bomb plotter convicted | |||||
| 2011-07-23 | |||||
| NEW YORK: The father of an admitted terrorist was convicted Friday of charges he destroyed evidence and lied to investigators to cover up his son's Al-Qaeda-sanctioned plot to attack the New York City subways in 2009 as one of a trio of suicide bombers. A Brooklyn jury found the father of Najibullah Zazi guilty of conspiracy and obstruction of justice at a trial detailing the disintegration of a working-class family of Afghan-Americans amid chilling allegations of homegrown terror. Mohammed Wali Zazi had no visible reaction when the verdict was read.
Leaving court, the 55-year-old former cab driver from Colorado told reporters he was innocent. "There are so many things that didn't come out in court," Zazi, who remains free on bail, said without elaborating.
"We will keep fighting for Mr. Zazi, and we will not give up," she said. Said US Attorney Loretta Lynch: "This defendant sought to conceal one of the most violent terror plots in recent times. His actions, had they not been thwarted, would have left Americans at grave risk." The case featured the testimony of two other family members who pleaded guilty and agreed to testify for the government to stave off stiff prison terms. They detailed the family's failure to acknowledge Najibullah Zazi as a budding terrorist and its clumsy attempts to protect him once his plot fell apart.
Colson argued that cooperating family members "falsely accused our client, Mr. Zazi, just to save themselves." At trial, a cousin of Najibullah Zazi told jurors that while living in Pakistan he had introduced Zazi to a cleric there who arranged for Zazi and two childhood friends from the New York City borough of Queens to get explosives and other instruction at an Al-Qaeda outpost. Zazi admitted in a guilty plea last year that he returned from Pakistan to his family's Denver-area home to practice cooking up homemade bombs using chemicals extracted from beauty supplies. He then drove to New York City in September 2009 with plans to attack the subway system in a "martyrdom operation" before he learned he was being watched by the FBI and fled back to Colorado. The defendant's nephew and brother-in-law both testified how the FBI and immigration agents put the squeeze on the Zazi clan as soon as the plot unraveled. When it became clear Najibullah Zazi was a suspect and family members were getting grand jury subpoenas, the cousin said "Uncle Wali" recruited him to get rid of plastic containers of peroxide and other evidence. The family agreed to code name the chemicals "medicine" in case the FBI was eavesdropping, he said. He also claimed his uncle admonished the family, "If anybody asks questions, tell them we don't know nothing."
The elder Zazi's lawyers argued recorded phone calls showed the brother-in-law had a vendetta against their client because he believed the terror case had ruined his life.
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| Accused Terrorist Zazi's Dad Tried To Destroy Chemicals: Feds | |
| 2010-02-01 | |
The father of terror suspect Najibullah Zazi is now accused of helping to destroy chemicals that were linked to the ongoing terror investigation.
Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, was re-arrested on the new charges unsealed Monday in federal court in Brooklyn, officials said. The indictment alleges that Mohammed Zazi conspired with others to "corruptly alter, destroy, mutilate and conceal objects" to impede the terror investigation. Among the items allegedly destroyed, glasses, masks, liquid chemicals and containers. Zazi's father was initially arrested on charges of lying to the FBI about his alleged efforts to alert his son about the terror investigation. Najibullah Zazi is charged with plotting to bomb New York City subways. The younger Zazi, a Queens native who had moved to Denver, is accused of buying hair products and other chemicals in an attempt to build the device. Zazi is also accused of traveling overseas to Pakistan to meet with al Qaeda operatives for explosives training. Zazi's father is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Denver late Monday. He then would be expected sent to New York for trial. Last month, two associates of Najibullah Zazi were arrested in connection with the terror investigation. Adis Medunjanin was arrested on charges he traveled to Pakistan for terror training. Zarein Ahmedzay is also accused of traveling to Pakistan and then lying to the FBI about the reason for his trip there. Lawyers for the suspects have denied their clients are tied to terror. | |
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| Terror probe widens in U.S. |
| 2009-09-23 |
| Reporting from Washington and New York - Federal authorities have tied as many as a dozen people to a suspected Al Qaeda-linked bomb plot on U.S. soil as they continue to gather evidence to indict on terrorism charges the young Afghan immigrant at the center of the case, law enforcement officials said Monday. Authorities said that they did not know the exact number of potential suspects or many of their identities, but that they had been connected through electronic intercepts, surveillance, seized evidence and interviews. A federal law enforcement official and others, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the high level of secrecy surrounding the investigation, said the suspects appeared concentrated in the New York area, with possibly others in the suspect's home state of Colorado and elsewhere. Of particular interest are several individuals that Najibullah Zazi, 24, had met or communicated with on a trip to New York two weeks ago. In interviews and court filings, federal law enforcement officials said they feared that Zazi was meeting in New York with co-conspirators in a possible plot to bomb subway stations or other crowded civilian targets. The disclosures came as Zazi, of Aurora, Colo., and two other men arrested Saturday night made their first court appearances Monday on charges of making false statements to federal authorities. Zazi, his father Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, and Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, of Queens, N.Y., were held in custody on orders by judges in Colorado and New York. Several of the officials said it was likely that Najibullah Zazi will be charged with providing material support to a known terrorist organization based on his admission that he trained in weapons and explosives at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan last year. That admission was cited in an FBI affidavit unsealed over the weekend. The affidavit also alleges that authorities found images on Najibullah Zazi's laptop of nine pages of notes on making explosives and fuses, apparently in his own handwriting. In addition, the affidavit alleges that authorities have found other information linking Zazi to the suspected plot, including his fingerprints on a small electronic scale and double-A batteries, which are often used in making bombs. One federal law enforcement official said more serious charges were being considered for Zazi as leverage to get him to cooperate in the investigation and provide information on others who may be involved. Zazi, who had been monitored by authorities for some time after returning from a trip to Pakistan, was stopped on a New York bridge on Sept. 10 after driving from Colorado on what he said was a trip to settle a business deal that had gone sour. New York police checked his car and allowed him to leave, according to court documents. Soon after, police showed pictures of Zazi and several others to Afzali, the imam of a Queens mosque who had worked as a police informant in the past. Zazi and his father later talked by phone with Afzali, who told them of his contact with New York City police detectives. Zazi flew back to Colorado and agreed to be questioned by FBI agents, who interviewed him for three days. Zazi abruptly stopped cooperating with authorities on Saturday, prompting his arrest. The false statement charges against the three men result from their conversations with authorities about what they knew about the alleged plot or had told one another about the investigation. In announcing the charges on Sunday, Assistant Atty. Gen. David Kris emphasized that authorities had "no specific information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack." The three Afghan-born men, all legal residents of the U.S., have maintained their innocence. They face up to eight years in prison if convicted on the false statement charges. Zazi and his father, both shuttle drivers at Denver International Airport, were handcuffed for their court appearances Monday afternoon, wearing the same casual street clothes in which they were arrested. Zazi told Judge Craig Shaffer he didn't wish to exercise his right to have diplomatic officials from his home country intervene but might do so in the future. It wasn't clear whether those officials would be from Afghanistan, where he was born, or Pakistan, where he lived as a child. Zazi will remain in federal custody at least until Thursday, when a detention and preliminary hearing is scheduled. |
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| FBI: Bomb-making notes in suspect's handwriting |
| 2009-09-22 |
| Investigators said they found notes describing how to make bombs in the handwriting of an airport shuttle driver arrested as part of a terrorism investigation, and they also discovered his fingerprints on materials -- batteries and a scale -- that could be used to make explosives. The emerging details show that Najibullah Zazi, who has admitted receiving weapons training from al-Qaida, played a direct role in an alleged terror plot, authorities said in court documents released Sunday. Zazi, 24, has publicly denied being involved in a terror plot. Zazi, his father, and an imam in New York City were arrested late Saturday on charges of making a false statement to the government, though legal experts say more charges could be coming. Zazi's defense team denied reports that Zazi considered a plea deal related to terror charges, and Zazi's attorney, Arthur Folsom, dismissed as "rumor" any notion that Zazi played a crucial role. Zazi's defense team did not respond to repeated attempts to reach them Sunday. Federal officials in Denver declined to comment. Zazi admitted to FBI agents that he received instructions from al-Qaida operatives on subjects such as weapons and explosives. Court documents filed in Denver say Zazi was speaking with agents under an agreement where he might avoid prosecution. He received the training in the federally administered tribal areas of Pakistan, the documents say. The FBI said it found images of nine pages of handwritten notes on a laptop containing formulas and instructions for making bomb, detonators and a fuse. Zazi told the FBI that he must have unintentionally downloaded the notes as part of a religious book he downloaded in August. Zazi said he "immediately deleted the religious book within days of downloading it after realizing that its contents discussed jihad." However, an arrest affidavit says the handwriting on the notes appeared to be Zazi's. The affidavit doesn't mention that they were part of a book, but that they were e-mailed as an attachment between accounts believed owned by Zazi in December, including an account that originated in Pakistan. "It appeared to be consistent with the handwriting as it appeared in the document," an FBI agent wrote of comparisons of Zazi's handwriting with the notes. In addition, agents found Zazi's fingerprints on a scale and double-A batteries seized during a raid at a home in the New York City borough of Queens on Sept. 14. Zazi, who lives in the Denver suburb of Aurora, underwent three days of questioning by the FBI before his arrest. Also arrested were his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, in Denver; and an associate, Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, of New York City, the Justice Department said Sunday. Both also were charged with making false statements to federal agents, which carries a penalty of eight years in prison. Court appearances for all three were set for today. |
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