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WASHINGTON: Three men of Afghan origin, including one accused of receiving training at an Al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan, are due to appear in court Monday accused of plotting terror attacks in the United States.
The men, all legal US residents, were arrested on Saturday after days of speculation following a series of FBI raids in the Queens borough of New York City.
Najibullah Zazi, 24, and his 53-year-old father Mohammed were arrested in the western US state of Colorado late Saturday. Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, was taken into custody shortly afterwards in New York.
The US Justice Department said the FBI was investigating other individuals "in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere, relating to a plot to detonate improvised explosive devices in the United States," according to affidavits filed to support the arrests.
"Each of the defendants has been charged by criminal complaint with knowingly and willfully making false statements to the FBI in a matter involving international and domestic terrorism," the statement said.
Najibullah Zazi, a permanent US resident, and Mohammed Zazi, a naturalised US citizen, are set to appear Monday in a Colorado federal court, while Afzali, also a permanent US resident, will appear before a federal court in New York.
If convicted each man faces eight years in prison.
New York City's police commissioner Raymond Kelly has suggested that more arrests are possible.
"I think it's important to note that in many ways, this investigation is only just beginning. It has many different avenues to take," he said adding that leads in the case are being explored "in New York, in Denver, and in other locations in the country as well."
The arrests come after three days of voluntary questioning of Najibullah Zazi in Denver, Colorado.
David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security, described the arrests as "part of an ongoing and fast-paced investigation."
"It is important to note that we have no specific information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack," he added.
The CNN network, citing sources close to the investigation, reported the target was a major New York transportation hub, such as a rail or subway station.
Najibullah Zazi, a bus driver in Colorado, possessed a video of New York's Grand Central Station, the network said.
US media also said authorities found 14 new black backpacks in the New York raids that fueled concern the men may have been planning to use them to carry suicide bombs.
And the New York Post reported Sunday that Giants Stadium outside the city was a potential target.
Stadium security officials said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had sent them alerts about a possible threat.
Justice Department officials said Sunday they had intercepted a number of phone calls between Najibullah and Mohammed Zazi and Afzali where the defendants discussed Afzali being interviewed by authorities.
Najibullah Zazi told Afzali his car had been stolen and that he feared he was being "watched," according to the affidavits.
Afzali then allegedly asked him whether there was any "evidence in his car," to which Najibullah replied no.
In a search of Najibullah Zazi's rental car in New York - where he had been visiting Afzali - officials found a digital image of handwritten notes "regarding the manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fusing system," according to the affidavit.
When shown the notes, Zazi "falsely asserted that he had never seen the document before," officials said.
In interviews with FBI agents in Denver, Najibullah Zazi is said to have admitted that on a 2008 trip to Pakistan he "attended courses and received instruction on weapons and explosives at an Al-Qaeda training facility."
But in a telephone interview with Zazi, reported in the Denver Post newspaper on Saturday, he denied admitting any link to Al-Qaeda or involvement in an attack plot.
US Congressman Peter King of New York told Fox News he was disturbed by what US agents had uncovered about potential attacks.
"Whenever you talk about someone trained by Al-Qaeda, when you talk about the possibility of explosives... you're talking about something that's very, very serious," King said.
- AFP/yb
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