The feds have indicted two Queens men for working alongside self-proclaimed suicide bomber wannabe Najibullah Zazi in a bid to blow up the city's subway system last year with homemade bombs, officials said.The Brooklyn US Attorney announced that a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin with terrorism violations stemming from their alleged roles in the plot to bomb city subways.
Ahmedzay and Medunjanin, both 25, pleaded not guilty to the new charges during an appearance this morning in Brooklyn federal court.
During the hearing, prosecutors said the men wanted to detonate bombs in three coordinated subway attacks and that others involved in the plot are currently overseas.
"The facts alleged in this indictment shed further light on the scope of this attempted attack and underscore the importance of using every tool we have available to both disrupt plots against our nation and hold suspected terrorists accountable for their actions," said US Attorney General Eric Holder.
"This attack would have been deadly, and the many agents, prosecutors and intelligence professionals who worked together seamlessly to thwart it deserve our thanks."
Ahmedzay, who lives in Queens, was previously indicted on Jan. 8, 2010, on charges of making material false statements to the FBI about his travels to Pakistan and Afghanistan and about his conversations with a fellow traveler.
Medunjanin, also of Queens, had been previously indicted that same day on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization.
The five-count superseding indictment unsealed this morning charges Ahmedzay and Medunjanin with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
Ahmedzay and Medunjanin are also both charged with receiving training from al Qaeda. Ahmedzay was also charged with making false statements to the FBI in a terrorism investigation.
Zazi told a Brooklyn federal court judge on Monday how he had driven to New York City from Denver, where he lived, on Sept. 10, 2009, with a detonator in his bag and bomb-making plans on his laptop to launch a "martyrdom" massacre at the behest of al Qaeda operatives.
"It meant that I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," the Afghan native said. "I would sacrifice my soul for the sake of saving others."