| Revision as of 03:12, 24 February 2010 editEpeefleche (talk | contribs)Pending changes reviewers150,049 edits →Events leading to arrest: adds re time in pakistan/afghanistan← Previous edit | Revision as of 03:30, 24 February 2010 edit undoEpeefleche (talk | contribs)Pending changes reviewers150,049 edits →Events leading to arrest: addsNext edit → | ||
| Line 72: | Line 72: | ||
| ==Events leading to arrest== | ==Events leading to arrest== | ||
| {{wikisource|Three arrested in ongoing terror investigation (2009-09-20)}} | {{wikisource|Three arrested in ongoing terror investigation (2009-09-20)}} | ||
| During the spring and summer of 2008, Zazi conspired with others in ], to travel to Afghanistan to join the ] and fight against the U.S. military and its allies.<ref name="chill"/> At the end of August 2008, they flew from New York to ], a city just east of Pakistan's volatile ].<ref name="chill"/> While there, they were recruited by al-Qaeda, instead, and taken to a training camp in ], where they received weapons training.<ref name="chill"/> Al-Qaeda leaders asked them to return to the U.S. and conduct a ], and they agreed to do so.<ref name="chill"/> Later, he received explosives construction training from al-Qaeda for an attack in the U.S., or to carry out a martyrdom operation.<ref name="chill"/> Al-Qaeda leaders also discussed target locations, such as New York City subways.<ref name="chill">{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/02/23/2010-02-23_najibullah_zazi_reveals_chilling_details_on_al_qaeda_training_and_terrorist_plot.html|title=Najibullah Zazi reveals chilling details on Al Qaeda training and terrorist plot to blow up subways|date=February 23, 2010|work=New York Daily News|accessdate=24 February 2010}}</ref> | During the spring and summer of 2008, Zazi conspired with others in ], to travel to Afghanistan to join the ] and fight against the U.S. military and its allies.<ref name="chill"/> At the end of August 2008, they flew from New York to ], a city just east of Pakistan's volatile ].<ref name="chill"/> While there, they were recruited by al-Qaeda, instead, and taken to a training camp in ], where they received weapons training.<ref name="chill"/> Al-Qaeda leaders asked them to return to the U.S. and conduct a ] ], and they agreed to do so.<ref name="chill"/> Later, he received explosives construction training from al-Qaeda for an attack in the U.S., or to carry out a martyrdom operation.<ref name="chill"/> Al-Qaeda leaders also discussed target locations, such as New York City subways.<ref name="chill">{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/02/23/2010-02-23_najibullah_zazi_reveals_chilling_details_on_al_qaeda_training_and_terrorist_plot.html|title=Najibullah Zazi reveals chilling details on Al Qaeda training and terrorist plot to blow up subways|date=February 23, 2010|work=New York Daily News|accessdate=24 February 2010}}</ref> | ||
| On January 15, 2009, Zazi returned from his trip to Peshawar.<ref name=NYTimes2009-09-15/><ref name=AssociatedPress2009-09-21/> He originally maintained that this five-month trip was to visit his wife. After several days of interrogation he acknowledged receiving military training in a semi-autonomous tribal area. | On January 15, 2009, Zazi returned from his trip to Peshawar.<ref name=NYTimes2009-09-15/><ref name=AssociatedPress2009-09-21/> He originally maintained that this five-month trip was to visit his wife. After several days of interrogation he acknowledged receiving military training in a semi-autonomous tribal area. | ||
| ⚫ | After his return, Zazi moved to ], to live with relatives and work as an airport shuttle bus driver. He took trips to New York, and met with others to discuss the plan, the attack's timing, and where to make the explosives.<ref name="chill"/> Beginning around June 2009, he accessed his bomb-making notes, and began researching where to find ingredients for the explosives.<ref name="chill"/> He then used his bomb-making notes to construct an explosive for the ]s in Denver.<ref name="chill"/> The explosive was ].<ref name="chill"/> Over the course of several months, the FBI listened to Zazi's phone conversations. In August 2009, he was heard speaking about mixing chemical substances. The FBI learned that Zazi and his three associates were buying chemicals at ]s around ]. Security videos from a beauty shop showed Zazi pushing a cart full of hydrogen peroxide. Authorities also examined the room with a kitchen that Zazi rented, and found traces of ], found in ]. Hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and acid, readily available in beauty supply stores, are components used in ] (TATP)-based deadly bombs.<ref name=TIME1/> | ||
| Beginning around June 2009, he accessed his bomb-making notes and began researching where to find the ingredients for the explosives. | |||
| On September 9, 2009, he began a drive to New York with the detonator explosive and other materials necessary to build bombs.<ref name="chill"/> The day after Zazi left Denver for New York, ] asked ], a Muslim cleric whom they have developed as an ],<ref name=TIME1/> to identify individuals in a series of photographs that included Zazi.<ref name=AssociatedPress2009-09-21/> Afzali identified Zazi. | |||
| ⚫ | After his return, Zazi moved to ], to live with relatives and work as an airport shuttle bus driver. Over the course of several months, the FBI listened to Zazi's phone conversations |
||
| Zazi arrived in New York City on September 10.<ref name="chill"/> He intended to obtain and assemble the remaining components to build a bomb over the weekend.<ref name="chill"/> The plan was for him and his colleagues to conduct a suicide bombings on subway lines in Manhattan as soon as the material was ready.<ref name="chill"/> At the ], he was pulled over for what he was told it was a routine traffic stop and his car was searched. He was allowed to go.<ref name=AssociatedPress2009-09-21/> The ] reported that it was known that Zazi, Afzali, and Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, back in Colorado, all spoke about what Afzali told the police that day.<ref name=AssociatedPress2009-09-21/><ref name=AssociatedPress2009-10-04> | |||
| {{cite news | {{cite news | ||
| | url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gWpIW42vI8B2yKi_g5oiJUvCBoCwD9B41TM80 | | url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gWpIW42vI8B2yKi_g5oiJUvCBoCwD9B41TM80 | ||
| Line 89: | Line 89: | ||
| | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhostednews%2Fap%2Farticle%2FALeqM5gWpIW42vI8B2yKi_g5oiJUvCBoCwD9B41TM80&date=2009-10-04 | | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fhostednews%2Fap%2Farticle%2FALeqM5gWpIW42vI8B2yKi_g5oiJUvCBoCwD9B41TM80&date=2009-10-04 | ||
| | archivedate=2009-10-04 | | archivedate=2009-10-04 | ||
| }}</ref> On the same day, Zazi's rental car was towed due to a parking violation, and his vehicle was searched. During the search, agents found a laptop with an image of nine handwritten pages on how to make explosives, |
}}</ref> On the same day, Zazi's rental car was towed due to a parking violation, and his vehicle was searched. During the search, agents found a laptop with an image of nine handwritten pages on how to make explosives, detonators, and fuses.<ref name=AssociatedPress2009-09-21/> | ||
| Zazi realized that law enforcement was investigating him.<ref name="chill"/> At that point, he and his colleagues threw away the detonator explosives and other materials.<ref name="chill"/> | |||
| On September 12, Zazi flew back to Denver, where he was arrested a few days later.<ref name="chill"/> American security officials searched several homes in New York on September 14, and found Zazi's fingerprints on a ] and ].<ref name=AssociatedPress2009-09-21/> An alert was issued to American law enforcement officials to be on the lookout for hydrogen peroxide-based bombs. | |||
| As of 2010, Zazi has been a ] (registration # 36553-013) at the ], .<ref>"." ]. Retrieved on January 16, 2010.</ref> | As of 2010, Zazi has been a ] (registration # 36553-013) at the ], .<ref>"." ]. Retrieved on January 16, 2010.</ref> | ||
Revision as of 03:30, 24 February 2010
Najibullah Zazi (born August 10, 1985, in a village in the Paktia region of eastern Afghanistan) is a citizen of Afghanistan and legal resident of the United States who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. Al Qaeda group accused of planning acts of terrorism against the U.S. The FBI claims Zazi attended courses and received instruction on weapons and explosives at an Al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008.
On September 9, 2009, he rented a car to drive from his home in Denver, Colorado, to New York City. According to The New York Times, the trip triggered a series of arrests on September 15, 2009.
On February 22, 2010, Zazi pled guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization. He said he was recruited by Al-Qaida in Pakistan for a "martyrdom plan" against the U.S., and that his target was the New York City subway system. Zazi faces a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing will take place in June 2010.
Early life
Zazi's family moved to Pakistan in 1992—four years before the Taliban took over Afghanistan. While Zazi was a teenager, he and his family lived in the same apartment building and attended the same mosque as Saifur Rahman Halimi, an imam and chief representative to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan warlord who had been declared a global terrorist by the U.S. in 2003.
Zazi and his family were accepted as legal residents of the U.S. in 1999. Mohammed Wali Zazi, Najibullah's father and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, found work as a taxi driver in New York City.
Zazi was described as an indifferent student at Flushing High School in Queens, and a quiet listener at the Hazrat-i-Abubakr Sadiq mosque he attended while in New York. According to one of his friends, Zazi liked listening to Zakir Naik, a controversial Indian Muslim televangelist preaching unorthodox Muslim theology.
In 2006, he traveled to Pakistan and married his 19-year-old cousin. He claimed several trips he made to Pakistan between 2006 and 2008 were to visit his wife. In the course of his visits to Pakistan, Zazi and his wife had two children, whom he planned to move to the U.S.
Zazi filed for bankruptcy in New York State on March 26, 2009, with $51,000 in debts, and was discharged on August 17, 2009. Officials say it was his third trip to Pakistan, on August 28, 2009, with an unspecified companions, that drew the FBI's attention to Zazi.
Events leading to arrest
During the spring and summer of 2008, Zazi conspired with others in Queens, New York, to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and fight against the U.S. military and its allies. At the end of August 2008, they flew from New York to Peshawar, Pakistan, a city just east of Pakistan's volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. While there, they were recruited by al-Qaeda, instead, and taken to a training camp in Waziristan, where they received weapons training. Al-Qaeda leaders asked them to return to the U.S. and conduct a suicide bombing martyrdom operation, and they agreed to do so. Later, he received explosives construction training from al-Qaeda for an attack in the U.S., or to carry out a martyrdom operation. Al-Qaeda leaders also discussed target locations, such as New York City subways.
On January 15, 2009, Zazi returned from his trip to Peshawar. He originally maintained that this five-month trip was to visit his wife. After several days of interrogation he acknowledged receiving military training in a semi-autonomous tribal area.
After his return, Zazi moved to Aurora, Colorado, to live with relatives and work as an airport shuttle bus driver. He took trips to New York, and met with others to discuss the plan, the attack's timing, and where to make the explosives. Beginning around June 2009, he accessed his bomb-making notes, and began researching where to find ingredients for the explosives. He then used his bomb-making notes to construct an explosive for the detonators in Denver. The explosive was hydrogen peroxide. Over the course of several months, the FBI listened to Zazi's phone conversations. In August 2009, he was heard speaking about mixing chemical substances. The FBI learned that Zazi and his three associates were buying chemicals at beauty shops around Denver, Colorado. Security videos from a beauty shop showed Zazi pushing a cart full of hydrogen peroxide. Authorities also examined the room with a kitchen that Zazi rented, and found traces of acetone, found in nail polish remover. Hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and acid, readily available in beauty supply stores, are components used in Triacetone triperoxide (TATP)-based deadly bombs.
On September 9, 2009, he began a drive to New York with the detonator explosive and other materials necessary to build bombs. The day after Zazi left Denver for New York, New York city police asked Ahmad Wais Afzali, a Muslim cleric whom they have developed as an informant, to identify individuals in a series of photographs that included Zazi. Afzali identified Zazi.
Zazi arrived in New York City on September 10. He intended to obtain and assemble the remaining components to build a bomb over the weekend. The plan was for him and his colleagues to conduct a suicide bombings on subway lines in Manhattan as soon as the material was ready. At the George Washington Bridge, he was pulled over for what he was told it was a routine traffic stop and his car was searched. He was allowed to go. The Associated Press reported that it was known that Zazi, Afzali, and Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, back in Colorado, all spoke about what Afzali told the police that day. On the same day, Zazi's rental car was towed due to a parking violation, and his vehicle was searched. During the search, agents found a laptop with an image of nine handwritten pages on how to make explosives, detonators, and fuses.
Zazi realized that law enforcement was investigating him. At that point, he and his colleagues threw away the detonator explosives and other materials.
On September 12, Zazi flew back to Denver, where he was arrested a few days later. American security officials searched several homes in New York on September 14, and found Zazi's fingerprints on a scale and AA batteries. An alert was issued to American law enforcement officials to be on the lookout for hydrogen peroxide-based bombs.
As of 2010, Zazi has been a federal inmate (registration # 36553-013) at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, .
Charges
On September 16, 2009, Zazi voluntarily was interviewed by the Denver FBI in the presence of his lawyer. During his interview, which lasted for eight hours, Zazi denied knowing anything about the suspicious nine-page document found on his hard drive, and speculated it might have accidentally been downloaded in August along with a religious book which he later deleted. The FBI reported that in subsequent interviews on September 17 and 18, 2009, Zazi acknowledged receiving explosives and weapons training in the tribal areas.
On September 19, 2009, authorities arrested Zazi, his father, and Afzali on charges of lying in a matter involving terrorism. According to Time Magazine, authorities believe Zazi was planning an attack using either a truck filled with explosives, or back-pack bombs previously used in the Madrid and London subway bombings. The FBI asserted the photographs of nine pages of handwritten notes found on Zazi's computer were in his own handwriting. Additional charges and allegations were filed on September 23, 2009. A grand jury charged Zazi on counts of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
In early November, British newspapers reported that British security officials intercepted an email instructing Zazi as to how to implement his attack, from planners in Pakistan. The email interception was performed as part of "Operation Pathway". U.S. authorities were tipped off about Zazi at the right time when they started threatening to sever intelligence ties with the British due to UK's possible extradition of the Lockerbie bomber back to Libya.
Guilty plea
On February 22, 2010, Zazi pled guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization. His guilty plea was the result of a plea bargain with the prosecution.
Zazi said he was recruited by Al-Qaida in Pakistan for a "martyrdom plan" against the U.S., and that his target was the New York City subway system. Zazi refused to name which subway line was the target of the plot. He said the intent of his suicide mission was to draw the attention to activities of the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
Zazi faces a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing will take place in June 2010.
See also
References
- Michael Wilson (2009-09-25). "From Smiling Coffee Vendor to Terror Suspect". New York Times.
- ^ Karen Zraik, David Johnston (2009-09-15). "Man in Queens Raids Denies Any Terrorist Link". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-09-21.
- David Johnston, Al Baker (2009-09-18). "Denver Man Admits to a Possible Al Qaeda Connection, Officials Say". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-09-21.
- David Johnston, William K. Rashbaum (2009-09-20). "Terror Suspect Had Bomb Guide, Authorities Say". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-09-21.
- ^ Ghosh, Bobby; Von Drehle, David (2009-10-01). "An Enemy Within: The Making of Najibullah Zazi". Time. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
- ^ Catherine Tsai, P. Solomon Banda (2009-09-21). "Timeline of events in NYC terror probe". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-09-21.
- ^ "Najibullah Zazi reveals chilling details on Al Qaeda training and terrorist plot to blow up subways". New York Daily News. February 23, 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
-
Samantha Gross, David Caruso, Michael Rubinkam (2009-10-04). "Radical influences all around NYC terror suspect". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2009-10-04.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - "Najibullah Zazi." Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on January 16, 2010.
- Dan Fletcher (2009-09-22). "Terrorism Suspect Najibullah Zazi". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 2009-09-22.
- P. Solomon Banda, Steven K. Paulson (2009-09-20). "FBI: Notes on bomb-making in Zazi's handwriting". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 2009-09-22.
- Edith Nolan (2009-09-24). "U.S. charges Afghan-born man with bombing plot". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2009-09-25.
- Benton J. Campbell (2009-09-24). "United States of America v. Najibullah Zazi: Conspiracy to use Weapons of Mass Destruction". United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-25.
- Benton J. Campbell (2009-09-24). "United States of America v. Najibullah Zazi: Detention Motion". United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-25.
- "British spies help prevent al Qaeda-inspired attack on New York subway". The Telegraph. 2009-11-09. Archived from the original on 2009-11-16.
- Spencer S. Hsu; Carrie Johnson (2010-02-22). "Najibullah Zazi, Denver man accused in N.Y. terror plot, pleads guilty". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - "Najibullah Zazi reveals chilling details on Al Qaeda training and terrorist plot to blow up subways". NY Daily News. 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
- Julian Cummings (2010-02-22). "Najibullah Zazi pleads guilty in New York terrorism plot". CNN. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
External links
- Mike Littwin (2009-09-23). "Littwin: Zazi, justice need strong defense". Denver Post. Archived from the original on 2009-09-23.
