New York Subway Bombing Plot - 2009

Summary: In 2009, operatives of Al Qaeda plotted to bomb the New York City subway system, the most serious terrorist plot since 2001, according to Attorney General Eric Holder. The plan was foiled in September 2009, shortly after one of the admitted conspirators, Najibullah Zazi, drove a van filled with bomb-making supplies from Denver to New York. Authorities said Zazi had been planning to make bombs to attack a New York mass transit facility in mid-September, roughly coinciding with the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Two of Zazi's friends from were also accused in the plot, which was also linked to a less specific bombing plot in Manchester, England; two alleged Al Qaeda operatives in Britain had planned to bomb shopping centers at about the same time. In July 2010, the Justice Department indicted four other men, only one of whom was in custody (in Britain).

Date: September 2009

Place(s): New York City; Manchester, England.

According to U.S. officials, in 2009 Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan native living in Denver, made several bulk purchases of beauty salon supplies that contained hydrogen peroxide, as well as quantities of acetone and hydrochloric acid. On Zazi's laptop computer were copies of handwritten notes explaining how to mix the chemicals to make a bomb like the ones used in the 2005 London Underground attacks. Federal agents found residue of the chemicals in a motel suite rented by Zazi, where he used to the stove to heat the chemicals.

According to the official version of events, on September 8-10, Zazi drove a rented car with the bomb materials from Denver to New York. He returned to Denver on September 12, after a New York imam told him that he was under surveillance. Authorities said Zazi had been planning to make bombs to attack a New York mass transit facility in mid-September, roughly coinciding with the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder later described the plot as the most serious since the Al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001, that brought down the World Trade Center in Manhattan and damaged the Pentagon.

In July 2010, five men were indicted on 10 counts in the case, including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder in a foreign country. Two other men had earlier pleaded guilty in the case, and a third was allowed to leave the country in lieu of being imprisoned.

According to the federal charges, the New York subway bomb plot was linked to a bombing plot in Manchester, England, at about the same time. Like the one in New York, the England plot never resulted in an actual attack. An Al Qaeda operative identified as "Ahmed" had communicated with people in both the U.K. and U.S. via email about similar bomb plots.

According to their guilty pleas or federal charges, several individuals were associated with the plots in New York and England:

Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan native at the center of the plot. Zazi had moved to New York City as a boy and later worked as an airport shuttle driver in Denver, Colorado. Zazi was arrested in September 2009 and later pleaded guilty to plotting to bomb New York subways at the behest of Al Qaeda. Reports said Zazi had cooperated with authorities in describing the plot. At his sentencing in February 2010, Zazi said he was proud to be a "Muslim warrior": "I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the U.S. military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan."

Zarein Ahmedzay, a childhood friend of Zazi's, also pleaded guilty to plotting the attack. He was first arrested in January 2010 and of accused lying to the FBI during questioning in 2009. In February 2010, he was accused of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country. Authorities said he had cooperated with them since pleading guilty.

Adis Medunjanin, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Bosnia and childhood friend of both Zazi and Ahmedzay. Medunjanin was working as a building superintendent at the time of his arrest in January 2010. He was charged with conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and receiving training from a terrorist group. In February 2010, he was also charged with providing material support for a terrorist organization. In July he was accused of plotting to bomb New York City subways with Zazi.

Medunjanin is the first conspirator to be tried and the only one to plead "not guilty." His trial will end in May 2012, with both Ahmedzay and Zazi cooperating with the government and testifying against him. Medunjanin is charged with nine felony counts, including: "nine counts against him, including providing material support to and receiving training from al Qaeda; conspiring to commit coordinated suicide attacks on the subways in 2009, and crashing his car on a highway in a last-ditch effort to complete his suicide mission in January 2010." He faces life in prison.

Adnan G. el-Shukrijumah, described as one of three senior Al Qaeda operative overseeing "foreign operations" and specifically planning terrorist attacks in the United States and Britain. A Saudi-born naturalized American, he was accused by the government in July 2010 of recruiting Zazi, Medunjanin, and Naseer to carry out the New York City plot. Shukrijumah had been wanted on a material witness warrant since March 2003 for possible involvement in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Abid Naseer, a Pakistan native and resident of Britain. In 2009, Naseer was one of a dozen men arrested by British police in connection with the plot to bomb shopping centers, but he was released due to insufficient evidence. In May 2010, a British judge ruled that Naseer was "an Al Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat to the national security of the United Kingdom," but that he could not be deported to Pakistan because of that country's "long and well-documented history of disappearances, illegal detention and of the torture and ill-treatment" of prisoners. In July 2010, the United States asked that he be extradited for his alleged role in the New York subway bomb plot. American authorities believed Naseer had stockpiled bomb-making materials in Britain and that he had exchanged emails via the same account as one used by Zazi to communicate with his Al Qaeda handler. He was accused in the United States of providing material support to Al Qaeda and of conspiring to use a firearm in New York.

Tariq Ur Rehman was arrested in Britain in April 2009, suspected of participating in the alleged subway plot. He was later released for lack of evidence and deported to Pakistan, where he remained free as of summer 2009.

"Ahmed," not further identified in indictments. Ahmed was accused of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder in a foreign country.

Secondary players in the plot, according to federal officials, included:

Ahmad Wais Afzali, an Afghan native and Muslim imam. Afzali was an occasional police informant, and he was charged with tipping off Zazi. According to officials, Afzali telephoned Zazi in early September 2009 to say that a New York City policeman had asked him about Zazi. He pleaded guilty in March 2010 to lying to federal officials about the phone conversations with Zazi. In April, he was given 90 days to leave the country without being deported in lieu of being sentenced to prison.

Zazi's father was also accused of lying to the FBI in an effort to protect his son. The prospect that his father and mother might be dragged into the case was reported to have been a consideration in Zazi's decision to plead guilty.

U.S. authorities said two other Al Qaeda operatives also had been involved in the New York subway bomb plot: Saleh al-Somali, al Qaeda's head of international operations, and Rashid Rauf, a British member of Al Qaeda once suspected of plotting to blow up planes over the Atlantic in 2006. Both men are believed by American officials to have been killed in U.S. drone attacks.

The Times Square car bomb was the latest in a string of plots to attack New York since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Incidents include:

December 2002: Iyman Faris, an Al Qaeda operative, considers destroying the Brooklyn Bridge but scraps the effort. He is later convicted of conspiracy.

February 2003: Computer records recovered during an arrest in Saudi Arabia show plans to attack the New York subway system with canisters filled with hydrogen cyanide.

July 2004: Dhiren Barot, an Al Qaeda operative, performs surveillance aimed at conducting attacks on the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup headquarters. Barot is jailed in London for conspiracy to destroy targets there.

August 2004: Shahawar Matin Siraj, a 22-year-old Pakistani national, and James Elshafay, a 19-year-old American, are convicted of conspiring to plant bombs in the 34th Street subway station in Manhattan just before the Republican national convention.

November 2005: Uzair Paracha, a native of Pakistan, is convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison for trying to help an Al Qaeda operative obtain a resident-alien visa. His father, Saifullah Paracha, is sent to Guantanamo for plotting to use his Manhattan-based garment business to help bring weapons or explosives into New York.

April 2006: Assem Hammoud, a Lebanese citizen, is arrested on charges of plotting to explode bombs on a train under the Hudson River, flooding the financial district. He is later released on $667 bail by a Lebanese court.

May 2009: Four men, including American Muslims, are charged with plotting to blow up a synagogue in the Bronx and shoot down U.S. military planes in upstate New York.

Bibliography

Dye, J. Bosnian-born U.S. citizen "ready" to kill in New York plot: prosecutor. Retrieved April 30, 2012, from The Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-newyork-securitybre83p1kd-20120426,0,4015028.story