Terrorist Najibullah Zazi Pleads Guilty
New York Foiled Terrorist Attack: Najibullah Zazi Pleads Guilty
2/22/2010 Najibullah Zazi Plea to U.S. Federal Court: Guilty!
Zazi pleaded guilty to three counts in a plea deal: conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support to a terrorist organization (al Qaeda). The terms of the plea deal were sealed. A government source told the media that the threat of legal action against Zazi’s associates and family played a role in his decision to cooperate with the government.
COURT SCRIPT
JUDGE RAYMOND J. DEARIE: All right. Turning then back to the specific charges. Count 1 charges — Count 1 and Count 2 — if you’ll permit me, Counts 1 and 2 of the superseding information charge the crime of conspiracy. All right? What, sir, is your understanding of the nature of the conspiracy? What is a conspiracy?
ZAZI: Two or more planned to do criminal or any kind of activity.
DEARIE: That’s right. A conspiracy is an illegal agreement, and therefore, it requires that at least two people, two or more people conspire or agree to commit a specific offense. The specific offense that is the object of the conspiracy in Count 1 is to use weapons of mass destruction, more specifically, explosive bombs and other similar explosive devices, against persons and property here in the United States, and in furtherance of that, to use the facilities of interstate commerce by virtue of the e-mail or Internet, traveling in interstate or foreign commerce, and with the understanding or the knowledge that the offense and the results would have some effect on interstate or foreign commerce. Did you do that?
ZAZI: Yes.
DEARIE: Count 2 alleges a conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country. Were you involved in such an illegal agreement?
ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor.
DEARIE: And finally, Count 3 alleges the substantive count for providing material support to a terrorist organization, namely al-Qaida. Did do you that?
ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor.
DEARIE: Tell me what happened.
DEFENSE LAWYER WILLIAM J. STAMPUR: Judge, if I may, Counts 1 and 3 are intertwined, so I think, with the Court’s permission, Mr. Zazi will read Count 2 first, and then Counts 1 and 3 will both be covered by his allocution.
DEARIE: That’s fine. With respect to Count 2, which charges conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.
ZAZI: Your Honor, during the spring and summer of 2008, I conspired with others to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and fight against the U.S. military and its allies. We made this agreement in Queens, New York, to carry out this agreement. At the end of August 2008, we flew from New York airport to Peshawar, Pakistan.
DEARIE: Your purpose in going to Pakistan?
ZAZI: Was to join Taliban.
DEARIE: For the purpose of?
ZAZI: To fight alongside with the Taliban against the U.S.
DEARIE: With respect to Counts 1 and 3?
ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor. Also, our plan was to go to Afghanistan and fight with the Taliban. While we were in Peshawar, we were recruited by al-Qaida, instead. We were taken by al-Qaida to training camp in Waziristan, where we received weapons training. During the training, al-Qaida leaders asked us to return to the United States and conduct martyrdom operation. We agreed to this plan. I did so because of my feelings about what the United States was doing in Afghanistan. Later, I received more training from al-Qaida about how to construct the explosives for attack in the United States or to carry martyrdom operation. I took notes on the training and later e-mailed a summary of the notes to myself, so that I could access them in the U.S. During my training, I had discussion with al-Qaida. I had discussions with al-Qaida leaders, including target locations, such as New York City subways. I also give money and computers to al-Qaida during that trip. In January 2009, I come back to United States. Beginning around June 2009, I accessed my bomb-making notes and began researching where to find the ingredients for the explosives. I also took trips to New York, and meet with others to discuss the plan, including the timing of the attack, and where to make the explosives. I then used the bomb-making notes to construct explosive for the detonators in Denver. The explosives was hydrogen peroxide. In early September 2009, I drove to New York with the detonator explosive and other materials necessarily — necessary to build a bombs. I arrived in New York City on Thursday, September 10th. And we intend to obtain and assemble the remaining components to build a bomb over the weekend. The plan was to conduct martyrdom operation on subway lines in Manhattan as soon as the material were ready, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. When I arrived in New York City, I realized that law enforcement was investigating me. At that point, we threw away the detonator explosives and other materials, and I flew back to Denver, and I was arrested j ust a few days after.
DEARIE: You used the word “bomb.” Do you mean bomb or bombs?
ZAZI: Bombs.
DEARIE: Plural?
ZAZI: Plural.
DEARIE: And you say you met in New York with others. Are they al-Qaida representatives?
ZAZI: No.
DEARIE: But others who are involved in this activity?
ZAZI: Yeah.
DEARIE: And you used the phrase “martyrdom activities.” Is that in the nature of a suicide bomber?
ZAZI: Yes, Your Honor. I have a different explanation to that. To me, it meant that I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the United States military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan by sacrificing my soul for the sake of saving other souls.
DEARIE: And did your plan include specific targets within the subway system?
ZAZI: Wasn’t sure, but yes.
On September 19, 2009
Authorities arrested Najibullah Zazi, his father and Ahmad Wais Afzali on charges of lying in a matter involving terrorism. FBI agents believed an active terror cell directed by al Qaeda was preparing an attack on New York City, and authorities said they had yet to identify everyone involved. They believe there were three distinct teams of four men each, and not all of them are accounted for. Law enforcement agents say they’re watching a number of people on round-the-clock surveillance who they suspect might have been part of the alleged terror cell that was to carry out the attack.
The first al Qaeda terrorist cell to be uncovered in the U.S. since 911 has federal law enforcement agents working overtime from Denver, New York, Afghanistan to Pakistan looking for information to ensure that the al Qaeda plot was disrupted and can no longer be carried out after the arrest of 3 men in New York. Police sources said there are still up to eight suspects in New York and several in Denver under watch in what Assistant Attorney General David Kris called “an ongoing and fast-paced investigation”.
FBI arrest documents showed prime suspect Najibullah Zazi, 25, an Afghan, visited the city from Colorado on the 9/11 anniversary carrying a laptop with bomb-making notes he wrote. Specific attack plans or targets remain unknown, a Justice Department statement said. The case erupted last week when New York-based agents raided several Queens apartments that Zazi visited on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary after driving all night from Colorado. He flew back Sept. 12th. Najibullah Zazi is employed as an airport shuttle driver at the Denver airport. Zazi rented a car in Colorado and made a 1,600-mile trek across the heartland to New York. He was quoted that he wanted to experience the American countryside from a car. He also told reporters that he the reason he came to New York was to resolve an issue with a coffee cart he owned.
The FBI and NYPD grew alarmed that Zazi and his pals might be planning an imminent attack when they found backpacks and cell phones in an apartment. They also learned Afzali and other Zazi associates tried to rent a 26-foot U-Haul truck the day before Zazi got to Queens from Colorado. Zazi, who authorities say appears to be the ringleader of the alleged plot, has been tracked by the FBI and the CIA for more than a year, during which time he has traveled twice to Pakistan for explosives training from al Qaeda.
Zazi, a legal resident of the U.S. 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.”
Court records show Zazi ran up more than $50,000 in debt on 20 credit cards, leading to FBI agents concerns he was preparing for a suicide mission. He declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Mar. 2009, and while he told investigators he had been traveling to Pakistan see his wife, he checked the “not married” box on his application form. The FBI picked up on a message from Zazi to others that the “Wedding Cake is Ready” authorities believed it meant that attack is ready and were unwilling to wait any longer before acting on the cell. This is an amazing job by our law enforcement agencies working together to keep America safe..
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
In a criminal complaint, the FBI alleges they found nine handwritten pages on the manufacture and handling of explosives, detonators and the fusing system in Zazi’s possession. “When Zazi was questioned about whether or not he knew anything about these written notes, and they were shown to him, he denied that knowledge,” said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. Kelly said Mohammed Zazi was arrested “because he lied about the phone call that he made to his son when he was in New York.”
Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver, and his father Mohammed made their first court appearance in a Denver federal courtroom today, handcuffed and dressed in the same clothes they were arrested in Saturday night. They are charged with lying to federal agents during an investigation into the alleged terror plot that has been described as “the real deal” by authorities. The government is not seeking to keep his father, but his travel will be restricted to Colorado and he’ll wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. He will have to remain in custody for two days until the monitoring system is set up.
The third man arrested this weekend, Queens, NY resident Ahmed Afzali, appeared in a Brooklyn court today as well, but no plea was entered. Afzali is also charged with making false statements to federal agents. He is alleged to have falsely told authorities that he didn’t tell the Zazis he had been asked by officials about them. Afzali’s attorney Ron Kuby told ABC News that his client, a respected imam at a Queens, NY mosque who had worked as a source for law enforcement in the past, was doing what authorities asked him to do. According to Kuby, Afzali has been in the United States since 1981, when he came as a child with his family. He has relatives, including a first wife and children, who live in Virginia, and because of his activities as a Muslim community leader in Queens, he had occasionally been called upon by the Joint Terrorism Task Force to help in investigations.
Al Qaeda has long sought operatives with “clean” passports who can travel easily into the U.S., as Zazi did for years after visiting Pakistan. His most recent trip was in January, the FBI said. Zazi has repeatedly denied being a terrorist. The court documents confirm that he offered to admit to the feds that he visited Al Qaeda training camps. Najibullah Zazi is at the center of the investigation. New York City police and the FBI moved aggressively to investigate the Afghan immigrant last week before the men could take significant steps to launch such a plot, officials said. As a result, there is much that the U.S. government doesn’t know about the men’s intentions, or their possible connections to a wider network of militants here and overseas, especially in Pakistan, officials acknowledged.
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. “You can’t make a definitive statement about how big this is because it’s unclear how much more is going to come out,” said a law enforcement official involved in the inquiry. Like others, the official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the urgency and secrecy of the investigation and the search for more suspects. But the official added: “There is a lot more to come. This isn’t over by any means.” The senior official said the feds believe the plot is now “compromised” and would be “hard to bring forward.” “We think we have a pretty good handle on the threat, but we’d know a lot more if Afzali hadn’t tipped them in the beginning,” another insider said.
Zazi was born on August 10, 1985, in a village in the Paktia region of eastern Afghanistan. Zazi moved to Pakistan with his family in 1992 — four years before the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Zazi and his family were accepted as legal residents of the USA in 1999. He married his wife in Pakistan. He claimed several trips he had made to Pakistan in 2007 and 2008 were to visit his wife. According to the Associated Press Zazi filed for bankruptcy in New York State on March 26, 2009, with $52,000 USD debts and was discharged on August 17, 2009
