Zazi Indicted for Plotting Terror Attack

Afghan-Born Colo. Man Charged with Conspiring to Detonate Explosives in U.S.; Feds Say He Hit Beauty Stores for Bomb Supplies

(CBS/AP)  Last updated at 6:30 p.m. Eastern

Terror suspect Najibullah Zazi plotted for more than a year to detonate homemade bombs in the United States, had recently bought bomb-making supplies from beauty supply stores and was looking for "urgent" help in the past two weeks to make explosives, an indictment charged Thursday.

Najibullah Zazi - a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver who authorities said received explosives and weapons training from al Qaeda during a trip to Pakistan last year - was charged in New York with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

The government has also asked the court for permanent detention, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.

"It looks now like the feds charged Zazi over the weekend with lying to federal agents just to get him off the streets, to get him into custody, and that it took a few days for them to feel secure about bringing this much more serious charge. This charge now becomes the centerpiece of the case," said CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen.

His arrest in Denver a week ago on charges that he lied to terrorism investigators sparked home and business searches in New York and Denver, as well as a flurry of national warnings of possible bomb attacks on transit, sports and entertainment complexes.

Authorities hadn't determined a time and place of a possible attack, and Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington, "We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted."

Zazi is expected to be transferred to federal court in New York to face the new charge. His court appearance in Denver was continued until Friday.

"The new charge guarantees that Zazi will not be released pending trial and it’s important to remember that we still may see more charges here, including a terror support charge, once more information is known. But right now Zazi is looking at life in prison without parole if he’s convicted and gets the maximum sentence," Cohen said.

Zazi's complete indictment
Zazi's detention motion

Zazi has publicly denied any terrorist plotting. Authorities say Zazi may have been plotting with others to detonate backpack bombs on New York trains in a scheme similar to the attacks on the London subway and Madrid's rail system in the last few years. Backpacks and cell phones were seized in raids on apartments Zazi visited in New York.

In court documents released Thursday, the Justice Department says Zazi and unnamed others purchased "large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products from beauty supply stores in the Denver metropolitan area," reports Orr. The government says evidence including surveillance videos will prove Zazi and the others made repeated purchases of the chemicals over the last three months.

An anonymous law enforcement official said some associates of Zazi traveled to Colorado to help him buy the chemicals using stolen credit cards.

Hydrogen peroxide and acetone are key ingredients for making homemade explosives, reports Orr. Those chemicals have been used in the past for various terrorist attacks and attempts including the London transit in 2005 and the ill-fated Richard Reid shoe-bomb plot in 2001.

On September 6 and 7, prosecutors say Zazi rented a hotel suite with a kitchen near his Aurora, Colorado home. The FBI later found "...acetone residue in the vent above the stove" - evidence suggesting Zazi may have been mixing or heating the chemicals, Orr reports.

Law enforcement officials have recorded conversations in which Zazi says "I'm going for the wedding and I have the ingredients for the cake" - a code authorities believe referenced bomb-building components, reports the CBS News Investigative Unit.

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But the defense will likely argue, among other things that hydrogen peroxide, for example, has perfectly legal uses, said Cohen.

"But these sorts of arguments have been tried before, and have failed before, in terror-related cases since 9/11," he noted.

The court documents reveal other details.

The airport shuttle driver began plotting to "use one or more weapons of mass destruction" between Aug. 1, 2008, and September 2009 against the United States, the papers say.

The document says that on Sept. 6 and Sept. 7, Zazi tried on multiple times to communicate with another individual "seeking to correct mixtures of ingredients to make explosives."

"Each communication," the papers say, was "more urgent than the last."

CBS News has also learned that Zazi has been on law enforcement’s radar for at least two years. One source says that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents in New York pulled Zazi’s "alien file" back in 2007, indicating authorities' suspicions about him, reports the CBS news Investigative Unit.

Court documents do not identify any conspirators or targets and shed no light on the scale of Zazi’s intended plot, reports Orr. But, the newly revealed evidence coupled with the discovery of backpacks and cell phones in the recent Queens raids add to the suspicion that Zazi and his partners were working on developing portable bombs for use against multiple targets.

The FBI continues to press the search for other potential conspirators and a possible cache of explosive materials. No new arrests have been announced.

Ahmad Wais Afzali, a New York imam, was also charged with lying to investigators but was released on $1.5 million bond put up by his parents, brother and wife after a court appearance in Brooklyn, reports CBS News' Ariel Bashi. He will be electronically monitored and only permitted to go to his mosque and funeral home

Afzali's attorney, Ron Kuby, denied that his client - who authorities said helped tip Zazi off with a phone call that investigators had been asking about him - knew anything about a plot.

"Obviously, the government would not be consenting to bail if it thought he was involved in a terrorism conspiracy," he said.

A second, unrelated indictment unsealed Thursday in the same court charged a Brooklyn man with supporting terrorism in what authorities say is an investigation. An indictment alleges Betim Kaziu traveled to Pakistan this year to try to receive training from a militant group linked to al Qaeda, and tried to go to Afghanistan and Iraq to fight against U.S. forces there.

Kaziu was to be arraigned later Thursday. Prosecutors did not have the name of his attorney.

In two unrelated terrorism cases elsewhere around the country Thursday:

• Michael C. Finton, a 29-year-old man who idolized American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, was arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill., officials said. FBI agents had infiltrated the alleged plot months ago.

• Two North Carolina men under arrest since July on international terrorism charges were also accused by prosecutors of plotting to kill U.S. military personnel.

[adamjw2]

"by brianp55 September 24, 2009 3:59 PM EDT
Steve: Please get your facts straight. It is not possible for Zazi to be a homosexual...he is a Muslim."

Brian, homosexuality is rarely a choice. You either are or you aren't. So because his religion states that no Muslim can be gay doesn't mean that he can't truly be gay. It just means if he says so he will be destroyed.

[searingtruth]

I wonder how many times they waterboarded him, bashed his face into a wall, and threatened to rape and kill his family before he fessed up.

And then magically created "evidence" against him.

How sad that the sniveling and cowardly Democratic and Republican parties have led us to this.

A country where any charge must be questioned, because of the myriads of crimes it has been known to commit before.

And accepted without question, inquiry, or reinstitution of justice.

Just like in Iran, Russia, and China.
ST


"I writhed in anguish for years. Always knowing pain was coming, but never knowing what I should attempt to say next, or how I should appear so that my American torturers would believe me.

The problem was that I was innocent."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[zahir555]

The case is all BS. The FBI and CIA are the most incompetent agencies in the world who have failed to find the real terrorists. Why don't they look for the KKK in our backyard. The KKK kill little black children, yet they are allowed to purchase weapons and other suspicious materials. Im sick and tired of this. I am Muslim and American. In fact, I am more American than anyone else. How about those rapists that get to live in my city?

The guy was just trying to live his life? Haven't you heard that the feds greatest skill is LYING to us. The CIA lied to us about Iraq, and they are lying to us about this guy. They made the arrest the day before the Muslim National Holiday, Eid, to highlight to Americans the danger we present.

To my Jewish cousins. You guys need to remember that when you were persecuted in Europe, the MUSLIM OTTOMAN EMPIRE took you in. They took you in when the CHRISTIAN WORLD persecuted you. The Nazis killed Jews, not Muslims, so start supporting us rather than vilifying us. In fact, aim your verbal attacks at the people who hurt you, not us, and stop supporting the occupation of Palestine. We helped you when you needed help, so you should start helping us!!!! Return the favor!!!

[Liberal_Hysteria]

Thank you George Bush for creating the homeland security.This guy could have killed many innocent Americans.All together now folks,Bush was right,Bush was right,let me hear you liberals, Bush was right.

[chelokee]

Anyone who is involved in any kind of terrorist activity should be thrown in prison for life. Furthermore, put them in the general population of the prison too. These slugs are committing treason against the U.S. and they should not ever be let out of prison. This is the greatest country in the world and I love it here. So to all you terrorists- I say go to hell.

[Questionews]

Steve: Please get your facts straight. It is not possible for Zazi to be a homosexual...he is a Muslim.

by brianp55 September 24, 2009 3:59 PM EDT


Good point! He would have to beat himself with a shoe, spit on himself, pummel himself into unconsciousness, cut off his own head & drag himself though the streets through a rabid crowd of people chanting their approval.
Do you see him doing that??

[hungry1968-16]

Thank you Obama for doing what Bush couldn't - keeping us safe.

[Marc_1986]

I am pleased to see that under Obama's watch we are still foiling potential terrorist plots in the US. It just saddens me that had the exact same thing happened under Bush, people would be pointing the finger at Cheney and calling for this 'innocent Arab' to be released due to lack of evidence.

Good job Obama, you're starting to act more like a moderate.

[gangesdak]

Story is, Zazi will be sent to a orientation camp in Russia by Obama admin. Cheney has the phone number of the Russina "specialist" who can extract answer from Zazi. Thank God, Russia is now our friend because of Obama.

[brianp55]

Such a nice young man. Where or where did our decadent society fail him?

[NAILGUNNER52]

EVERYONE IS MISSING THE BIG PICTURE.FRY ZAZI, HIS DADDY AND ANYBODY THAT EVEN LOOKS LIKE THEM. LET THIS CHIN STRAP IDIOT TRY TO SIT NEXT TO ME ON A PLANE.AFTER I HANDED HIM HIS EYEBALL I WOULD TELL HIM "PRAISE BE TO ALLAH". WAKE UP PEOPLE, IT'S COMIMG AROUND TO OUR TURN AT BAT AGAIN, WE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION AND KEEP AN EYE ON PEOPLE WHO EVEN LOOK THIS WAY.IF THAT RACIST OR PROFILING SO BE IT. I PLAY TO WIN, AS SHOULD ALL AMERICANS.NEVER FORGET.

[bradkt1]

Given the fact that there are Muslims who come in all shapes, sizes, races and skin colors, could you please educate us as to exactly what a Muslim looks like so we can all be on guard?

[bradkt1]

After reading some of the posts with regard to this story and related stories about this alleged terrorist plot, I wouldn't blame a reader for thinking that some of these posters actually want a successful terrorist attack to occur on the United States just to advance their selfish political arguments...just so they can say "See...I told you so!"

In my book, that makes them no better than the would-be terrorists themselves. All of them are people who somehow believe that they would somehow profit as a result of a successful terrorist attack on the United States and the murder of innocent Americans...the more horrific, the better.

I won't post what I really think about these people because it wouldn't get past the censors.

[Solarrays247]

bradkt1 September 24, 2009 1:59 PM EDT
After reading some of the posts with regard to this story and related stories about this alleged terrorist plot, I wouldn't blame a reader for thinking that some of these posters actually want a successful terrorist attack to occur on the United States just to advance their selfish political arguments...just so they can say "See...I told you so!"

In my book, that makes them no better than the would-be terrorists themselves. All of them are people who somehow believe that they would somehow profit as a result of a successful terrorist attack on the United States and the murder of innocent Americans...the more horrific, the better.

I won't post what I really think about these people because it wouldn't get past the censors.
*********************************************************************

I agree completely with your assessment, brakdt1. It is at once both sad and pathetic to read some of these thoughts. These can't be citizens of the United States? Why....they are filled with as much hate as our most rabid foreign terrorists!

[stevex47]

Wow, the reich wing just wont give Obama credit for saving American lies.

The repubs and al qaeda both want the same thing...for Obama to fail. To "break" him.

Which one is worse?

[biger-e]

Let's go over this one more time.....
Keep the chest elevated above the head and neck to keep the lungs "above the waterline".
Incline the head, both to keep the throat open and to present the nostrils for easier filling.
Force the mouth open so that water can be poured into both the nose and mouth.

[wyodutch]

Baloney... More scarecrow propaganda from the government. Another jalopy full of Keystone Kriminals, bogus bombs and paid informants.
.
And... quite obviously, you are falling for it.