Feds probe alleged terrorists who tried to rent giant truck in suspected Al Qaeda bomb plot

BY James Gordon Meek In Washington, Judith Crosson In Denver, Kate Nocera, Rocco Parascandola and Larry Mcshane


Updated Saturday, September 19th 2009, 4:40 AM

Seven men who are under a federal investigation walked into a Queens U-Haul and tried to rent the largest Jumbo Sized Super Movertruck.

Investigators probed a failed Queens truck rental for ties to a possible Al Qaeda bomb plot yesterday as a chief terror suspect tried making a deal to save his skin.

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.

A police source acknowledged there was "quite a bit that we weren't completely sure of" about the plot or the role of Najibullah Zazi, the bearded public face of the terrorism investigation.

"We knew this guy [Zazi] wasn't innocent," the source said.

Zazi, after three days of FBI questioning, was considering a plea deal to turn informant, sources told The News.

He also admitted to feds that he may have come across Al Qaeda militants while in Pakistan, sources said.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the probe had spread beyond Denver, home to the alleged terror cell, and New York City.

"The FBI is working this case around the clock in both cities and in other parts of the country," he 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.

When the FBI arrived, Larson said, "I was wondering, 'Where is Ashton Kutcher to tell me I've been punked?'"

By the time the agents left, "I realized this is crazy, this is real, it's not a joke," Larson said.

The feds turned up at the U-Haul in Jamaica around 11 a.m. Thursday as authorities continued tailing and interviewing suspects linked to the reputed Denver cell.

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.

And at least a dozen people remained under round-the-clock surveillance in the case.

U-Haul workers also identified Naiz Kahn, who has said he gave Zazi a place to stay during his visit to New York last week.

"None of them looked suspicious," Larson said. "They looked like laborers. Not clean-cut guys, but your average Joes."

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.

"I will help the authorities," he said. "We have nothing to hide."

The Department of Homeland Security sent a note to police last night to remain alert.

"While DHS and FBI have no information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack, we believe it is prudent to remind transit authorities to remain vigilant," it said.

The plea bargain talks began as Zazi spent a third day with FBI agents in Denver.

Investigators were "absolutely positive Zazi is a terrorist operative for a variety of reasons," said one senior U.S. counterterrorism official. "People list all of his connections to Al Qaeda in Pakistan almost mundanely."

If a deal is finalized, investigators in New York will move to make additional arrests, sources told The News.

The scenario involves Zazi, an Afghan national, pleading guilty to receiving military instruction at terrorist training camps - perhaps in Pakistan, where his wife lives.

In return, he would cooperate with the federal probe, the sources said.

The 24-year-old arrived in New York from Denver on Sept. 10, the eve of the eighth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks and the day before the attempted truck rental.

He drove alone cross-country, his lawyer said.

Authorities, despite all the activity, had not yet made an arrest four days after NYPD raids on several locations in Queens.

While Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd declined comment on a Zazi plea deal, sources indicated his lawyers were in negotiations.

Zazi arrived at the FBI's Denver office yesterday morning after doing a pair of eight-hour Q&A sessions with federal agents Wednesday and Thursday.

"Our strategy has not changed," his lawyer, Arthur Folsom, said before going inside. "My client hasn't done anything. Our position is to answer the FBI's questions.

"They are asking him about everything - the people he knows, people he's talked to, family members."

lmcshane@nydailynews.com



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