Counterterrorism officials are warning US mass transit systems to step up patrols because of fears an Afghanistan-born immigrant under arrest in Colorado may have been plotting with others to detonate backpack bombs aboard New York City trains.
Investigators say Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old shuttle van driver at the Denver airport, played a direct role in a terror plot that unraveled during a trip to New York City around the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He made his first court appearance on Monday and remained behind bars.
Zazi and two other defendants have not been charged with any terrorism counts, only the relatively minor offense of lying to the government. But the case could grow to include more serious charges as the investigation proceeds.
Zazi has publicly denied being involved in a terror plot, and defense lawyer Arthur Folsom dismissed as “rumor” any notion that his client played a crucial role.
Publicly, law enforcement officials have repeatedly said they are unaware of a specific time or target for any attacks. Privately, officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case said investigators have worried most about the possible use of backpack bombs on New York City trains, similar to attacks carried out in London and Madrid.
The investigation into Zazi’s role and how many others may be involved was ongoing. Two law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonymity said late on Monday that more than a half-dozen individuals were being scrutinized in the alleged plot.
The FBI said in a statement that “several individuals in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere” were being investigated.
Backpacks and cellphones were seized last week from apartments in Queens where Zazi visited.
In a bulletin issued on Friday, the FBI and Homeland Security Department warned that improvised explosive devices are the most common tactic to blow up railroads and other mass transit systems overseas.
In the bulletin, officials recommended that transit systems conduct random sweeps at terminals and stations.
The effects of the warning were not immediately clear on Monday. New York’s transit agency said it was in touch with an FBI-New York Police Department task force but wouldn’t comment further.
The task force feared Zazi may have been involved in a potential plot involving hydrogen peroxide-based explosives, according to two law enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
Investigators said they found notes on bomb-making that appear to match Zazi’s handwriting, and discovered his fingerprints on materials — batteries and a scale — that could be used to make explosives. He also made a trip to Pakistan last year in which he received al-Qaeda explosives and weapons training, the government said.
Zazi, a legal resident of the US who immigrated in 1999, told the FBI that he must have unintentionally downloaded the notes on bomb-making as part of a religious book and that he deleted the book “after realizing that its contents discussed jihad.”
Zazi and his 53-year-old father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, were arrested on Saturday in Denver. Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, was arrested in New York, where he is an imam at a mosque in Queens. The three are accused of making false statements to the government.
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