Wednesday, October 28, 2009

NEFA Foundation: “Target: America” The September 2009 Arrest of Najibullah Zazi and the Ongoing Investigation into his Terror Plot

Via CT Blog -

Najibullah Zazi emigrated with his family from Afghanistan as a child and grew up in Flushing, Queens. He shared the same interests as other typical American teens, including a love of video games and the latest fashions. He dropped out of high school, then started operating a coffee cart in Lower Manhattan. In 2006, he married a cousin in Pakistan. He visited her and their children in Pakistan regularly--Then his behavior and his outward appearance began to change. Once he was friendly to customers, but then he grew cold and combative. He had always been religiously observant, but became even more doctrinal. After his most recent trip to Pakistan, Zazi abruptly moved to Aurora, Colorado. He was arrested there in September 2009 on charges of plotting to attack targets in the U.S. using TATP-based explosives, the ingredients for which he and his co-conspirators purchased in beauty supply shops.

This NEFA Target: America report provides details leading up to Zazi's arrest and sheds light on why this case is considered by many experts to be the most significant terrorist plot to take place on U.S. soil since 9/11. Zazi, and the yet-to-be-named co-conspirators in this case, received training at an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan, and returned back to the United States driven in their effort to acquire the materials needed to fabricated TATP-based explosive devices, which, the evidence suggests, they planned to use on a target, or multiple targets, in New York City.

The full report can be read here.

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