Colo. Terrorism Suspect Taken into Custody

KCNC: Najibullah Zazi and Father Brought in by FBI Agents, Charges Unclear

(CBS/AP)  Najibullah Zazi, a man under investigation in a terrorism probe in New York and Colorado, and his father Mohammed Zazi, were taken into custody tonight by more than a dozen FBI agents, according to CBS station KCNC in Denver. It is unclear what they are charged with.

Earlier Saturday, Najibullah Zazi didn't report for a fourth day of FBI questioning so he could spend a much-needed day with his attorney, the attorney's spokeswoman said.

Najibullah Zazi had been scheduled to go to the Federal Building in Denver on Saturday. But Wendy Aiello, a spokeswoman for Zazi's defense team, told The Associated Press that Zazi and his attorney contacted the FBI to cancel the meeting.

"They are meeting as client and attorney to review the case and the entire situation," Aiello said. "Further meetings with the FBI are not being ruled out."

"I do know that Mr. Zazi is very tired," she added.

The FBI had no immediate comment.

Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver, insists he is not involved in terrorism and has no links to al Qaeda. He is not under arrest.

He completed a third day of questioning Friday and was allowed to return to his suburban Denver apartment.

"The Denver FBI office has been very professional and courteous to Mr. Zazi and his family, and Mr. Zazi has cooperated fully with the Denver FBI office," Aiello said.

Zazi's defense team denied reports that Zazi is considering a plea deal related to terror charges, and Zazi's attorney, Arthur Folsom, has dismissed as "rumor" remarks by a senior U.S. intelligence official in Washington that Zazi played a crucial role in an intended terrorist attack.

CBS News reported Friday that sources indicated Zazi admitted his ties to terrorism and an official told the AP on Friday that Zazi has indicated he is directly linked with al Qaeda. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters, said Zazi played a crucial role in an intended terrorist attack but that it was not immediately clear what the targets were.

The official said the plot was being directed from outside the United States.

"Absolutely no way. It's a rumor," Folsom said Friday.

In a telephone interview with the Denver Post earlier Saturday, Zazi reportedly said he has no ties to al Qaeda, and not involved with any terrorist plot, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane. Zazi said that he went to the tribal areas of Pakistan to visit his wife - and not for terrorist training.

Yet, he claimed to be unmarried as recently as August, Doane reports. In a bankruptcy filing obtained by CBS News that shows Zazi had more than $50,000 in debt while making just $800 a month as a self-employed street vendor.

CBS News has also learned:

• Zazi has been closely watched by the FBI for at least six months since his return from Pakistan.

• The FBI recently questioned employees at a Denver-area home improvement center, and were believed to be inquiring about the sale of bomb-making materials.

• In New York, FBI agents have interviewed employees at two U-Haul locations, showing photos and inquiring about people looking to rent large trucks.

The FBI has searched Zazi's apartment and his uncle and aunt's home in suburban Denver. Authorities have not said what they found and have made no public statements on the investigation.

Another official familiar with the investigation told the AP on Thursday that agents have been monitoring Zazi and four others in Colorado as part of a terrorism investigation.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday that the FBI was "working this case around the clock" in New York, Denver and other parts of the country but that there was no imminent threat.

Authorities say Zazi rented a car and drove from Denver to New York, crossing into Manhattan on Sept. 10. Zazi said he went to New York to resolve some issues with a coffee cart he owns in Manhattan.

On Monday, FBI agents and police officers with search warrants seeking bomb materials searched three apartments and questioned residents in the Queens neighborhood where Zazi stayed.

A joint FBI-New York Police Department task force feared Zazi may have been involved in a potential plot involving hydrogen peroxide-based explosives like those cited in an intelligence warning issued Monday, according to two other law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the investigation.

Folsom has repeatedly denied any such claims.

Zazi was born in Afghanistan in 1985, moved to Pakistan at age 7 and emigrated to the United States in 1999. He returned to Pakistan in 2007 and 2008 to visit his wife, Folsom said.

[Swine_Flu_Virus]

Dear dontknowital:

Sorry to confuse you with facts ----- I can see you've been swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool for many generations.

Here is some more terrorist rhetoric for you ----- if you can rouse yourself from your persistent vegetative state.

First off, my intent was simply to provide the historical context within which the use of agitprop and propagandistic slogans were employed to fear-monger us into a fake and illegal war with Iraq. That context, it turns out, pivots on the supposed authenticity of the ersatz terrorist myth.

If you Google something other than porn (or, alternatively, turn off Fox News) you would shortly discover that terrorism is, in itself, a statistically aberrational "non-threat." Even on the day 911 occurred, you were statistically far more likely to die from off your step ladder. (Perhaps head trauma does explain your apparent ignorance of how deeply you've been duped by your own government.)

But, back to statistics: 40,000 Americans die annually from the flu ----- more than have died from Islamic extremist attacks since our country's founding. Maybe we should launch a "war agaisnt the flu" huh?

Look, I'm just saying: Don't be so gullible. Look up the DOD strategy, employed very heavily by the Bush administration, called incestuous amplification (or group polarization). That's how they pulled off the terrorist myth.

Now, why did they do it? The answer shouldn't surprise you: War, it turns out, is profitable. With Iraq, of course, it was mainly about the PNAC's shared psychotic delusion of attaining global corporate supremacy ---- especially in oil.

In Afganistan it's still the same: There are now about 70,000 private contractors (they outnumber our troops)in that country, reaping the profits for some 100 multinational corporations who have very, very lucritive "defense contracts." It is to protect their profit margins that our young men and women soldiers are being asked to die -----not fight the Taliban.

Terrorism, you see, is a destructive ideology -----an idea. It has no locus, no state sponsor, no centralized HQ. Ironically, Bush did a good job at disrupting al Qaeda's funding sources. But, his Iraq debacle bordered on genocide.

Come on now, dontknowital: There is no distinction between political ideology in terms of actual practice. It's still all about the money.

Terrorism is still a fake threat.

[mljohns00]

After three days of "intense questioning", the Government has chosen to charge them with "making false statements". That's what the Government does when it can't find anything else to charge you with.

They ask you questions for three days and if ANYTHING you say is found to be incorrect, you are charged. That's what landed Martha Stewart in prison, even though the Government could never prove any other wrongdoing.

[bradkt1]

Until such time as he was arrested, he has the right to remain silent and is NOT obligated to meet with law enforcement. Any target of any type of criminal investigation has that right. Even after he has been taken into custody, he still has the right to remain silent.

There is something called the United States Constitution, you know. It's there to protect you, me...and him as well.

[salmoc44]

At this point in Bush's first term, we had already lost 3K Americans and the WTC in a massive terror attack due to Bush's ignoring of the Al-Qaeda threat. So far, Obama is doing a great job.

[racsfpd6595]

to whom it may concern i personally think that the FBI usually has most of the time has better things on its ajenda than to supposedly go after what you librals deem as innocent not after they had him under survellance for weeks after his return from a terrorist training area out in northern packistan or oh i guess for all you "G--"D--MED"librals out there has to be a reason to search in this country or for the legally challenged out there it is (AKA)PROBABLE CAUSE NO PROBABLE CAUSE-NO SEARCH PERIOD!

[pecandrive]

Hasn't this poor terrorist wannabe suffered enough? He has been subjected to three days of torturous questioning by the government. He should be let go and given compensation(free health care, food stamps, welfare payments, a paid up mortage for a house, cash for his clunker, etc) for his being inconvienced. Eric Holder and Obama should be putting all the government's resoucres into investigating the CIA.

[stuart-johns]

Blather

[jwesel1]

He already visited FBI for three days and answered their questions. What exactly were the questions that they couldn't ask that they needed him to be there the fourth day. Three days should be more than enough for an intelligent investigator.

[1notrub11]

Interesting observation. Speaking from experience? On which side of the "desk"? Please, enlighten us.

[dontknowitall]

swine flu blah blah blah. Go climb back into your hole. You and the other nitwit "livinontheedge" COMPLETELY MISSED the ENTIRE POINT.Peddle your rhetoric to another of your muslim extremist group.

[Livinontheedge]

by dontknowitall September 19, 2009 8:46 PM EDT
Has to be the story of the century. Under investigation for terrorist activities he and his attorney cancel with the FBI. Imagine cancelling an investigation with your local law enforcement over something as simple as DWI and you'll find your butt in jail. No questions asked and probably be in jail faster and longer than this creep. How hard is it to immigrate to Australia? I've about had it here.
=================================
Adios Sabata

[dontknowitall]

SO I can leave more space for you and yours?

[dontknowitall]

Has to be the story of the century. Under investigation for terrorist activities he and his attorney cancel with the FBI. Imagine cancelling an investigation with your local law enforcement over something as simple as DWI and you'll find your butt in jail. No questions asked and probably be in jail faster and longer than this creep. How hard is it to immigrate to Australia? I've about had it here.

[Swine_Flu_Virus]

Dear dontknowitall who posted "Has to be the story of the century"

You prove yourself worthy of your handle, "dontknowitall" The real story of the century, as you put it consists of three little lies:

LIE ONE: That there were links between Iraq and 911, or, for that matter, links between Iraq and al Qaeda.

THE FACTS: Even Bush admitted this was a lie. Read from the excerpted news conference below:


1. REPORTER: ?One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on September the 11th??
PRESIDENT BUSH : ?I can't make that claim.?
PRIME MINISTER: ?That answers your question.?
(Source: White house press conference with Tony Blair ------ January 31, 2003
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/no-saddam-qaeda.htm)

2. No "collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al Qaeda was found.
(Source: Bush-appointed Sept 11 Commission ----- June 17, 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47812-2004Jun16.html)


LIE TWO: THAT IRAQ HAD WMD

THE FACTS: Iraq NEITHER POSSESSED NOR ATTEMPTED TO RECONSTITUTE its biological and/or nuclear weapons programs prior to the run up to the second Iraq war. (Iraq did however originally possess WMD: We know this because the United States actually provided Saddam Hussein with weaponizable materials as a bribe during our meddling with Iran in the 1980s.

Sources: Chief U.S. Weapons Inspector Report on Iraqi Arms Program, Charles A. Duelfer, Oct 5, 2004. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6188101/; 2006 Select Senate Intelligence Committee.


LIE THREE: IRAQ POSED NO NATIONAL THREAT

THE FACTS:
1. "Iraq possessed no imminent threat to either its neighbors or to the United States."
(Source: State Department?s Bureau of Intelligence & Research)

2. Iraq posed no imminent threat and was "an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deferred Iraq."
(Source: January 2004 report by the Army War College; National Intelligence Estimate)