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Report: Queens Terror Suspect In Colorado Now Admits Ties To Al Qaeda
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 18, 2009
Modified Sep 18, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 18, 2009
Modified Sep 18, 2009
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[UPDATE]: Now Fox News says Zazi admits ties to Al Qaeda. More below.
Najibullah Zazi, the former Queens resident whose return to the borough prompted FBI-NYPD raids of three homes in Queens, was questioned for over 8 hours by the feds in Colorado yesterday. Apparently CNN said that bomb-making diagrams were found on his laptop computer, but his lawyer Arthur Folsom said, "There's no diagram of a bomb. Do you really think the FBI would have allowed us to walk out of here?" and denied Zazi knows anyone from Al Qaeda,"He's simply somebody who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Still, one government official wonders, "His drive to New York [from the Denver area] intrigued us. Why is he driving, not flying?" However, when Zazi suddenly left NYC (the feds think he was tipped off by a friend, since authorities were questioning people and showing his photo), the feds had to conduct the raids. The official said, "In the normal course of action, we would have followed him forever and ever and we might have got the answer that he was nothing and stopped following him or we could have determined there was something there and followed him until we figured out who and what else was involved. [But since Zazi left] we had to ratchet it up before we had the full picture."
Update: Now Fox News reports that, after a third day of questioning, Zazi "has admitted he has ties to Al Qaeda and is in negotiations to plead guilty to a terror charge... Zazi reportedly told officials that he had received explosives training and his possible guilty plea would be part of a deal to cooperate with the government. An attorney for Zazi issued the following statement on Friday: 'The FBI has asked to speak to my client's father, Mr. Mohammed Zazi, and we are cooperating fully with the FBI's request.'" The Daily News adds, "Lawyers for Najibullah Zazi, 25, were negotiating with federal officials for an agreement where he could admit receiving military training - but deny plans to injure any Americans, sources familiar with the case said."
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al-qaeda
fbi
Najibullah Zazi
queens
terror
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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