Friday, January 08, 2010

Two More Arrested In Zazi Terror Plot

The terror plot linked to Najibullah Zazi took a most curious turn this morning as the FBI arrested two men. As the NY Times reports, "Adis Medunjanin, 25, and Zarein Ahmedzay, 24, came under intense scrutiny during the investigation that led to a federal bombing conspiracy indictment against the shuttle bus driver, Najibullah Zazi, 24, in September":
The arrests of the two young men sometime after midnight came hours after two F.B.I. agents seized Mr. Medunjanin’s passport at his family’s Flushing apartment, pursuant to a search warrant, at about 3 p.m. on Thursday. That led to a strange series of events that ended with Mr. Medunjanin in the custody of F.B.I. agents and police detectives, and undergoing questioning, according to law enforcement officials.

Roughly an hour after his passport was seized, Mr. Medunjanin, who was being trailed by agents and detectives from the F.B.I.-N.Y.P.D. Joint Terrorist Task Force, was involved in a car accident near the Whitestone Bridge, according to law enforcement officials.

Mr. Medunjanin, who graduated from Queens College in June, got out of the car and apparently tried to flee the scene on foot, and was pursued by the investigators, who apprehended him, a law enforcement official said. He was taken to New York Hospital Queens, where he was treated for minor injuries, and then questioned by agents and detectives, a law enforcement official said.

Mr. Zazi, according to court papers filed in his case, admitted to F.B.I. agents during questioning in September that he had received training in weapons and explosives from Al Qaeda during his 2008 trip to Pakistan, although he has denied taking part in a bomb plot, and has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
The search warrant specifically requested Medunjanin's passport, as part of an investigation into a conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. He attempted to flee in his car down the Whitestone Expressway and rear-ended another vehicle and then attempted to flee on foot before being arrested by the JTTF, which is comprised of FBI and NYPD officers.

Multiple charges are pending.

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