By Robert Boczkiewicz in Denver THE Afghani male at the center of an anti-terrorism probe was determined to make a bomb and perhaps detonate it in New York City on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, before he was thwarted by authorities, a US prosecutor says.
Assistant US Attorney Tim Neff summed up the Government's case against Najibullah Zazi, 24, in a Denver courtroom before the suspect was flown in federal custody to New York to face a charge of plotting bomb attacks in the United States.
Zazi, linked by authorities to al-Qaeda, was making his third appearance before a federal judge in Denver. He was ordered to remain held without bail, then put aboard a US Marshals Service jet for the cross-country flight.
His first New York court appearance is set for Tuesday.
Zazi has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in media interviews and through his lawyers.
"There was and is no plot," defense attorney Arthur Folsom said.
Zazi is accused of receiving bomb-making instructions during a trip to Pakistan last year, then buying and preparing chemicals for use in home-made explosives like those used in the deadly London mass transit bombings in 2005.
A grand jury in New York has charged Zazi, a legal US resident born in Afghanistan, under federal anti-terrorism laws with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, an offense outlined in an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Law enforcement experts have called the suspected conspiracy, if proven, one of the most significant security threats in the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Authorities say the case is unrelated to two other security arrests this week in Dallas and Springfield, Illinois.
The investigation came to light earlier this month after Zazi drove across the country from Colorado, arriving in New York City on September 10 in a rental car in which authorities say he carried a laptop computer with detailed bomb-making notes.
Zazi, linked by authorities to al-Qaeda, was making his third appearance before a federal judge in Denver. He was ordered to remain held without bail, then put aboard a US Marshals Service jet for the cross-country flight.
His first New York court appearance is set for Tuesday.
Zazi has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in media interviews and through his lawyers.
"There was and is no plot," defense attorney Arthur Folsom said.
Zazi is accused of receiving bomb-making instructions during a trip to Pakistan last year, then buying and preparing chemicals for use in home-made explosives like those used in the deadly London mass transit bombings in 2005.
A grand jury in New York has charged Zazi, a legal US resident born in Afghanistan, under federal anti-terrorism laws with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, an offense outlined in an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Law enforcement experts have called the suspected conspiracy, if proven, one of the most significant security threats in the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Authorities say the case is unrelated to two other security arrests this week in Dallas and Springfield, Illinois.
The investigation came to light earlier this month after Zazi drove across the country from Colorado, arriving in New York City on September 10 in a rental car in which authorities say he carried a laptop computer with detailed bomb-making notes.
Source: The Australian
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