US charges Afghan-born man with bombing plot
* Indictment alleges he was buying chemicals to make bombs
* U.S. attorney general says imminent threat disrupted
* Imam linked to case is granted bail for $1.5 million (Updates throughout with details of allegations)
NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A Colorado airport shuttlebus driver has been charged in New York with conspiring tocarry out a bombing attack in the United States, accused ofacquiring the same bomb-making chemicals used in the 2005London transit attacks.
Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi, 24, already under arrest inColorado on another charge, was charged in a grand juryindictment unsealed in New York on Thursday with suspicion ofconspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. No potentialtargets were revealed.
Prosecutors allege that he received al Qaeda training inPakistan on how to make bombs, possessed detailed notes on hislaptop computer on how to assemble them, and accumulated largequantities of bomb-making chemicals, some of which he may havecooked up in a Denver hotel room as recently as Sept. 7.
Security experts have called the case, if proven, one ofthe most significant threats within U.S. borders since theattacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The conspiracy charge against Zazi, a legal permanent U.S.resident, carries a maximum penalty of life in prison if he isconvicted.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said any imminent threatwas thwarted. But court documents referred to unidentifiedco-conspirators who helped Zazi buy chemicals and with whom hewas said to be urgently consulting on how to make explosives.
Authorities have said they had no information on thetiming, location or target of any attacks.
"We are investigating a wide range of leads related to thisalleged conspiracy," Holder said in a statement.
"We believe any imminent threat arising from this case hasbeen disrupted," he added.
The U.S. government said that over the last three monthsZazi and unnamed associates bought "unusually large quantities"of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products from beauty supplystores in the Denver area that could be used to make triacetonetiperoxide (TATP), the explosive used in the 2005 Londontransit bombings that killed 56 and wounded 700.
Zazi has maintained his innocence ever since it becameapparent he was at the center of an investigation that came tolight 10 days ago when the FBI and New York City police raidedapartments in Queens where he recently visited.
FBI QUESTIONING
Upon returning to his home in Colorado, Zazi voluntarilysubmitted to questioning by the Federal Bureau of Investigationand was then arrested and charged with lying to the authoritiesbased on those conversations.
He was arrested along with his father in Colorado onSaturday while a New York City imam and police informant waspicked up in New York, accused of tipping off Zazi that he wasthe subject of an investigation and then lying about it to theFBI.
The imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, was granted bail by a judge onThursday and was due to be released on a $1.5 million bond,secured by a $500,000 property where he lives in Queens. Hewill be on electronic monitoring.
"Obviously the government would not be consenting to hisrelease if they genuinely believed that he was involved in aterrorist conspiracy," Afzali's lawyer Ron Kuby told reportersoutside a Brooklyn courthouse.
In Denver on Thursday, a judge announced plans to placeZazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, into house arrest ratherthan continuing to hold him in jail.
The younger Zazi's status will be addressed on Friday inDenver, when a judge plans to determine the conditions of hisfuture detention and whether to grant bail.
Federal authorities said they would ask the court to denybail to Zazi, calling him a danger to society and a risk toflee to Afghanistan, where his wife and children may reside.
All three Afghan-born men had been accused of lying to theFBI, which carries an 8-year maximum sentence. Prosecutors wereattempting to drop the lying charge against Zazi so they couldmore easily move him to Brooklyn federal court to face trial.
Zazi worked as a shuttle bus driver at the Denver airport.
Zazi and his father appeared in Denver federal court forabout an hour and a half, both dressed in white T-shirts andtan trousers, their hands cuffed in front of them as they satat the defense table.
The younger Zazi did not speak. His defense lawyersdeclined to comment on the indictment as they left thecourthouse. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and James Vicini inWashington and Robert Boczkiewicz and Keith Coffman in Denver;Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Will Dunham)
Source: Reuters
