Uncle Who Vouched for Terror Suspect Arrested - Instantly I feel frightened

New York City

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Last September, in the days after he emerged as a central suspect in an alleged Qaeda terror plot, much about the life of Najibullah Zazi became the subject of intense interest.

Among the areas of interest were his job as a shuttle driver at the Denver airport; his purchases of beauty supplies that prosecutors say were the ingredients for homemade explosives; and his relationships with relatives, including an uncle by marriage who took Mr. Zazi in when he first moved to Denver from Flushing, Queens.

Now, months after Mr. Zazi’s arrest on bombing-conspiracy charges, his uncle, Naqib Jaji, 38, has been secretly arrested in the case. Mr. Jaji, who in his public remarks had indicated some antipathy toward Mr. Zazi, 24, but also said it was “impossible” that he was a terrorist, was arraigned this month in a sealed federal courtroom in Brooklyn, a sign that he may be cooperating in the case.

Court records and interviews with family members indicate that Mr. Jaji was indicted on a single felony charge, but the precise nature of the charge remains sealed. Indeed, the court docket on the case, 10-CR-00028, lists him as John Doe, a standard practice in cases where a defendant is cooperating.

Mr. Jaji’s lawyer, Donald D. DuBoulay, would not discuss the case, and spokesmen for the Brooklyn United States attorney’s office and the F.B.I. declined to comment.

But one family member has said that Mr. Jaji came to New York in recent weeks to find work, and that he was questioned by the F.B.I. for three consecutive days before his arrest.

Mr. Jaji, who had lived in Queens for several years before moving to Denver, was arraigned before Judge Raymond J. Dearie of United States District Court in the sealed proceeding on Jan. 14. It appears from the docket sheet in the case that he pleaded not guilty.

Apparently Mr. Jaji was held after his arraignment. A Bureau of Prisons record on the agency’s Web site indicates that he was released from federal custody eight days later.

Mr. Zazi was indicted on Sept 24 on a single charge accusing him of conspiring to set off bombs in the United States. Two other young men with whom he attended Flushing High School in Queens, Adis Medunjanin, 25, and Zarein Ahmedzay, 24, have also been charged in connection with the case.

Prosecutors have said that the three men traveled together to Pakistan in August 2008, and then to Afghanistan, to receive Qaeda training, and returned the following January, when Mr. Zazi abruptly moved to Denver, staying first with his aunt and uncle in the suburb of Aurora, and later moving in with his parents after they relocated there from Queens.

Mr. Medunjanin was charged with conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and with receiving military-style training from Al Qaeda. Mr. Ahmedzay was charged with lying to the F.B.I. about the places he visited in Afghanistan and Pakistan and whether he knew that another man had received the training.

All three are being held without bail.

The investigation that resulted in the charges against the three young men also led to the indictment of Mr. Zazi’s father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, 55, in federal court in Denver on charges that he lied to investigators. A Queens imam, Ahmed Wais Afzali, was also charged with lying to investigators, who said he had warned Mr. Zazi that he was under scrutiny by federal authorities.

When Mr. Zazi left Queens for Colorado early last year, he moved in with his father’s sister and Mr. Jaji, who lived in a modest two-story home in a quiet Aurora neighborhood. The house does not stand out in any way from those around it — neutral colors, with a concrete driveway in front.

Just a day after the investigation exploded into public view in New York, and while the younger Mr. Zazi was undergoing three days of questioning by the F.B.I. that preceded his arrest, Mr. Jaji complained to a reporter about his nephew, according to an account in The Denver Post.

“He’s very greedy,” he told the newspaper. “He lived with me for six months and never gave me a penny.”

But he nonetheless defended his nephew. “We have a much better life here than in Afghanistan,” Mr. Jaji said. “He wants to become a citizen and bring his wife here from Pakistan."

Mr. Jaji, according to some reports, told reporters in October that he had testified before a grand jury hearing evidence in the case in Brooklyn, but offered no details about what he said.

Few details of the alleged plot have emerged, but prosecutors have said they expect to file more charges in the coming weeks. In September, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called the case one of the most serious threats to the United States since the 9/11 attacks.