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| More on our not-quite-arrested Afghani terrorist | ||||
| 2009-09-20 | ||||
New York Daily News: Zazi, whose trip from Denver to New York last weekend set off a series of police raids in Queens, filed for bankruptcy in March, court records show. Between 2005 and 2008, he opened credit card accounts with Bank of America, Chase, Capital One, Discover and Citibank and ran up a debt of more than $50,000. When he filed for bankruptcy, Zazi said he hadn't worked in two months.
ABC News blotter: Zazi has been under investigation for almost a year, according to law enforcement and intelligence officials. The CIA reportedly first learned of his alleged al Qaeda ties when Zazi visited Pakistan and officials said they later learned of "deeply troubling" conversations that were picked up on government intercepts. Authorities told ABCNews.com that Zazi's computer contained bomb-making directions and an explosives recipe that would have produced homemade bombs of the same size and type used in the terror attacks on the London subways in July 2005. And A computer belonging to Zazi showed he had researched baseball and football stadiums and sites used in the recent Fashion Week event in New York City, law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com. The officials said text messages sent by Zazi suggest the plot was nearing the attack phase. One message said the "wedding cake is ready," which authorities say may have been code to indicate the attack was ready. Al Qaeda operatives have frequently used references to weddings to disguise planned terror attacks. Zazi's computer was copied, or "mirrored," by FBI agents last weekend without Zazi's knowledge. His lawyer said the agents probably made the copy after towing away Zazi's car on an purported parking violation. The computer was in the car, and Zazi told his lawyer he discovered it had been tampered with when he retrieved the car at a police lot. Authorities who have been briefed on elements of the alleged plot said it was a "varsity level" plan similar in scope to the 2005 attacks on London's subways and busses. A recipe for homemade explosives found on Zazi's computer would have produced a bomb of the same size and type used in London, authorities said. The suicide bombers in London used backpacks and plastic containers to carry the explosive mixtures. Raids in New York led to the discovery of 14 new backpacks. CBS News: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday that the FBI was "working this case around the clock" in New York, Denver and other parts of the country but that there was no imminent threat. The New York Daily News reported Saturday that investigators spent several hours this week at a U-Haul in Queens, examining an apparent attempt by some men under scrutiny to rent a large truck. A manager at the rental lot, Robert Larson, told the newspaper the men went away empty-handed because they didn't have a valid credit card. The paper reported that U-Haul workers identified one of the people involved as Naiz Khan, an Afghan immigrant in Queens who knew Zazi and has been questioned by the FBI in connection with the case. Khan told the AP and other reporters in a brief interview at his Queens apartment building Saturday that agents had asked him about renting a U-Haul truck but he knew nothing about it. He called reports that he was involved "totally wrong." "I've never been to that U-Haul," he said. While in Queens, officials said Zazi inquired about hydrogen peroxide, which terrorists use to make bombs. "It talks about peroxide and it talks about the burns, the possibility of someone being burnt," NYC Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. "But I think it covers more subjects than just that." More from the New York Daily News: The New York end of the expanding federal probe centered on seven Afghan men who tried to rent the biggest truck at a Queens U-Haul on Sept. 9, sources told the Daily News. The size of the vehicle involved - a 26-foot-long truck - suggested the conspirators wanted to pack it with explosives, sources said. The truck rental bid failed when none of the men could produce a valid credit card. All refused to surrender the identification needed to pay cash, the manager of the Flushing U-Haul said. A team of FBI agents spent 10 hours Thursday combing through the Queens truck rental business. "We all feel very lucky right now," U-Haul manager Robert Larson told The News. At least three Afghan men - including Ahmad Afzali, a Queens imam identified by a U-Haul employee as one of the would-be renters - were questioned in New York by FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, sources said.
An employee at Afzali's funeral home in Queens said the FBI swooped down on the business Thursday. "I don't know what's happening," the man said. "The office was turned upside down." Afzali, in a phone call with The News, insisted he was never at the U-Haul and had nothing to do with any terror plot. He described his sitdown with the FBI as a cordial conversation. | ||||
| Posted by: |
| #2 someone better find that "wedding cake". |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2009-09-20 22:43 |
| #1 I'm guessing ICE may be involved if they are not all legal immigrants. Something I heard reported that made me think the FBI in Denver was on the ball was apparently Zazi purchased some muriatic acid, used for cleaning cement but also for explosives, and the receipt from Home Depot automatically gets kicked out and the authorities notified. As for beefed up security at commercial airports, he rented a van and drove cross-country. He could just as easily, and economically, hopped on Amtrak. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2009-09-20 17:31 |