JOIN USFBI unearths plot to attack NY
Najibullah Zazi, 24, and his father Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, were arrested in Colorado while Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, was apprehended in New York, the FBI said in a statement.
Each was charged with knowingly and willfully making false statements to the FBI “in a matter involving international and domestic terrorism,” the department said in a statement. All of them are scheduled to make court appearance tomorrow.
David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said they do not have any specific information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack. “The arrests carried out tonight are part of an ongoing and fast-paced investigation,” he said.
The FBI is investigating several individuals in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere in an alleged plot to detonate explosive devices in the United States, the Justice Department said.
Handwritten notes
During search operation of a car which was rented out by Najibullah Zazi, the FBI claimed to have found a laptop computer containing a “jpeg” image of nine pages of handwritten notes.
The notes “contain formulations and instructions regarding manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fuzing system,” the statement said. Najibullah Zazi admitted in the interviews to the FBI that during his 2008 trip to Peshawar in Pakistan, he attended courses and received instruction on weapons and explosives at an al-Qaeda training facility in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan.
“Each of the defendants has been charged by criminal complaint with knowingly and willfully making false statements to the FBI in a matter involving international and domestic terrorism,” the statement said.
Reports in US media early this week said that the authorities found 14 new black backpacks in the New York raids fuelling concerns they may have been planning to use the backpacks to carry suicide bombs.
Suicide bombers in both London and Mumbai have used backpacks and plastic containers to carry explosive mixtures.
Law enforcement officials told ABCNews.com that electronic intercepts revealed Zazi had sent text messages suggesting, in code, the plot was nearing the attack stage.
“The wedding cake is ready,” Zazi allegedly wrote.
The authorities believe this may have been code to indicate the attack was ready. Al- Qaeda operatives have frequently used references to weddings to disguise planned terror attacks.
The computer belonging to Najibullah Zazi also showed he had researched baseball and football stadiums and sites used in the recent Fashion Week event in New York City, ABCNews.com said.