Najibullah Zazi pleads guilty to plotting NYC terror attack, supporting Al Qaeda

By John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Monday, February 22nd 2010, 10:44 AM
Updated: Monday, February 22nd 2010, 3:24 PM

NYPD
Terror suspect Najibullah Zazi is taken to a NYPD helicopter landing strip in Brooklyn in September.


Accused terror plotter Najibullah Zazi pleaded guilty Monday to three federal charges and admitted he and others planned "martydom operations" in city subways.

Appearing in Brooklyn Federal Court, Zazi said he hoped the transit attacks would draw attention to U.S. military operations against civilians in Afghanistan.

Zazi pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and kill U.S. soldiers abroad and to giving support to Al Qaeda.

He could face life in prison. He began cooperating with authorities recently, law enforcement sources said.

The 25-year-old was accused of planning to detonate homemade bombs in the subway system. He is believed to have received training at an Al Qaeda terror camp in the summer of 2008.

He was arrested in Denver in September after returning from a trip to New York. Zazi had been tailed cross-country by federal agents who feared there were plans to bomb the city during the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

Bomb-making instructions were found on Zazi's laptop computer, and Zazi and others purchased large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products from beauty supply stores in Denver last summer, according to court papers.

Last week his father, Mohammed Walis Zazi, who is charged with conspiring to destroy his son's bomb-making material, was released from jail on a relatively low $50,000 bail.

The younger Zazi has been held in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crim ... _plea.html