Najibullah Zazi was arrested by F.B.I. agents in Aurora, Colo., late Saturday.
Najibullah Zazi is accused of making false statements to officials about an alleged bomb plot in the United States.
Najibullah Zazi arrives for questioning at the Byron G. Rogers Federal Building in downtown Denver. Worked as airpost shuttle bus driver.
* Najibullah Zazi's arrest followed 3 days of questioning
* All three men accused of lying to federal agents
* FBI: laptop instructions would yield explosive charge
A Colorado man, his father and an accused accomplice in New York are to appear in federal court on Monday on charges of lying to federal agents about a plot to blow up unspecified targets in the United States, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Najibullah Zazi, 24, a native of Afghanistan who works as an airport shuttle bus driver, was questioned by the FBI for three days. He and his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, were taken into custody on Saturday at an apartment in the Denver suburb of Aurora.
Also arrested was Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, a native of Afghanistan who was living in the Queens borough of New York City, a Department of Justice spokesman said.
Authorities today pressed an urgent investigation into whether a Denver-area airport shuttle driver, his father and associates in New York were part of the first operational Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist plot on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and what the alleged targets might have been.
Najibullah Zazi, 24, an Afghan emigre, and his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, were arrested late Saturday at their town house in the Denver suburb of Aurora. They had undergone three days of questioning by the FBI but had stopped cooperating, authorities said. Also arrested was Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, of Flushing, N.Y., who was described in court documents as an informant for the New York Police Department.
The court documents suggest that Afzali tried to warn Zazi about authorities' interest in him and his alleged associates in New York. "I was exposed to something yesterday from law enforcement," Afzali said, referring to an interview he had with police, in a call that was intercepted, the documents said. "And they came to ask me about your characters."
While in New York this month, Zazi's vehicle was pulled over and searched. Authorities also raided three apartments in Queens and questioned residents, including an Afghan immigrant who grew up with Zazi.
Reason for being are suspects ?
FBI agents alleged in court documents today that Zazi had admitted receiving weapons and explosives training from Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan last year. In court documents and interviews, they also alleged that a handwritten recipe for homemade explosives was found on Zazi's laptop computer, and said it would have produced a bomb of the same size and type used in the deadly 2005 attacks on London's subways and buses. Authorities said they had seized nine new backpacks during last week's raids in New York.
In announcing the charges early this morning, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. David Kris said agents are working around the clock, domestically and internationally, in "an ongoing and fast-paced investigation."
Kris acknowledged that authorities "have no specific information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack." But he said the alleged plot focused on an effort to detonate explosive devices somewhere in the United States.
When authorities interviewed him Sept. 16, Zazi denied knowing about the handwritten notes about explosives on his laptop, and said he did not write them, court documents say.
And Zazi maintained his innocence on at least one phone call that was secretly intercepted on an FBI wiretap last week. In a conversation with Afzali, Zazi said he had "just [gone] to Pakistan, I didn't do anything wrong."
What is the alleged target of bombing ?
According to news reports, authorities also searched a New York truck rental company, looking for evidence that some of Zazi's alleged associates were plotting a truck bomb.
Other information suggests the men were targeting a sports arena, mass transit hub or other "soft" civilian target with huge crowds of people, authorities said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"The arrests ... are part of an ongoing and fast-paced investigation," David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.
The plot may have been targeting a major transportation center, like a large railroad or subway station, sources close to the investigation told CNN on Thursday. There were plans for an attack, presumably in the New York area, where crowds are large and security screening for nonairport travelers is lax, the sources said.Two sources familiar with the investigation said the younger Zazi had video of New York's Grand Central Terminal, a massive junction of rail and subway lines, as well as shops and restaurants, which see an average of more than a half million visitors per day.
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