FBI Arrests 2 more in New York Terrorism Probe (wow)

New York City

FBI Arrests 2 more in New York Terrorism Probe

Victoria Cavaliere | New York 08 January 2010

Two men have been arrested in connection with an ongoing terror investigation in New York City. One of the men, an Afghan-born taxi driver, has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to U.S. federal agents. The second man, a Bosnian immigrant, is expected to be arraigned in the coming days on similar charges.

According to federal officials, 25-year-old Adis Medunjanin and 24-year-old Zarein Ahmedzay have been under intense scrutiny for months and their homes in the New York City borough of Queens were among those searched last September during a probe into a possible terror plot targeting the city's mass transit system.

Federal officials say the two men are former classmates and possible accomplices of Najibullah Zazi, a terrorism suspect charged with plotting to use weapons of mass destruction in New York City.

A senior agent with the FBI, Richard Kolko, would not give many details about the arrest, but said he believes both have ties to the indicted terror suspect.  "I can't discuss any specifics of that case but it is believed that both of these men are associates of Zazi," he said.

Federal officials say both men had traveled to Pakistan in 2008.

In the criminal complaint unsealed Friday, prosecutors say Ahmedzay did not tell federal authorities all of the places in Pakistan and Afghanistan he visited between August 2008 and January 2009 and denied receiving "military-type training" in Pakistan. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Charges against Medunjanin, a U.S. citizen who is originally from Bosnia, could come soon.  He was arrested after he crashed his car while driving in Queens. He had surrendered his passport to the FBI.

A lawyer for Medunjanin denies his client was involved in any terror plot. Attorney Robert Gottlieb also accused authorities of keeping his client away from legal counsel for too long. "He grew up in the same community as Zazi. Whether or not that triggered it or something else triggered the focus on him - I can't speak for the FBI and for our federal government. But that is not a substitute then for evidence that he is guilty of crimes that obviously he is being charged with. I don't know yet what they are and it certainly does not justify keeping him away from his lawyer for as long as they did," he said.

Najibullah Zazi, who is accused of receiving weapons training during a trip to Pakistan, has pleaded not guilty to plotting to use weapons of mass destruction. Federal officials had said that they believed that Zazi had not traveled alone to Pakistan, but no possible accomplices had been named.

Both Medunjanin and Ahmedzay are graduates of a high school in Queens and both were living and working in New York City. Ahmedzay had also reportedly recently applied to become a New York City firefighter.

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Friday's banner reads - Two more arrested in connection to New York bomb plot

New York City

    NEW YORK, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- United States federal authorities arrested two more men on Friday in connection to an alleged bomb plot targeting public transportation in New York City, bringing the total number of suspects held in the case to five.

    Adis Medunjanin, 25, and Zasrein Ahmedzay, 24, were detained early Friday morning by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York as part of an "ongoing investigation," the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) said in a statement.

    Investigators say the two men are connected to a Colorado taxi driver, Najibullah Zazi, who reportedly trained at an al-Qaida terrorist camp and is believed to be the mastermind of a plot to bomb New York. He is currently being held in jail without bail on charges of conspiring with others to use beauty products to make bombs that were planned to go off in New York.

    In Brooklyn Federal Court on Friday afternoon, Ahmedzay pleaded not guilty to lying to federal investigators, according to local media reports. A new indictment charges Ahmedzay, an Afghan-born taxi driver, with a single count of making material false statements.

    Ahmedzay allegedly failed to mention all the places he had visited in Pakistan and Afghanistan while there in late 2008 and early 2009 and lied when he denied having discussions about attending a military camp to receive training.

    Medunjanin, a Bosnian-born building superintendent, will be arraigned on Saturday. The charges against him are still unclear.

    On Thursday, authorities searched Medunjanin's home and took his passport, prompting him to jump in his car and take off through the streets of New York. He then crashed his car on the Whitestone Expressway and had to be taken to a Queens hospital for minor injuries. It wasn't until the early hours of Friday when he was turned over to federal authorities, according to local media reports.

    There was no chase, said the FBI, adding that Medunjanin was under surveillance.