Shuttle bus terror suspect arrested

NY Times:

Federal authorities arrested an airport shuttle bus driver and his father in Colorado and another man in New York City on Saturday night, charging them with lying to investigators about an alleged terrorist plot to detonate an improvised explosive against an unknown target in the United States.

Acting swiftly late on Saturday after a week in which investigators worked intensely in New York and Denver to put together a case, F.B.I. agents arrested Najibullah Zazi, 24, his father Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, who both reside in Aurora, Colo., and Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, a resident of Flushing, Queens.

The arrests indicated the case was rapidly accelerating and provided for the first time — in a sometimes confusing week of events — an explanation of why authorities were investigating the men and provided details about the alleged plot still under investigation in the United States, Pakistan and elsewhere.

In a statement issued early Sunday, David Kris, the chief of the Justice Department’s national security division, said: “The arrests carried out tonight are 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.”

Affidavits filed in the case said that during a search of the younger Mr. Zaza’s rental car on Sept. 11, agents found a laptop computer that contained an image of nine pages of handwritten notes. The notes, according to affidavit, “contain formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fusing system.”

Last Wednesday, the affidavits said, when agents interviewed Mr. Zazi in Denver, he falsely said he had never seen the handwritten notes and told agents that he had not written the notes.

In two additional interviews on Thursday and Friday, Mr. Zazi told agents in Denver that during a 2008 trip to Pakistan, he attended courses and received instruction on weapons and explosives at an al Qaeda training camp located in a tribal area.

The affidavits also said that the elder Mr. Zazi and Mr. Afzali, who was said to have been a source for the New York Police Department, also lied to investigators about their conversations concerning the younger Mr. Zazi and their knowledge of his activities.

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The case will eventually show the deficiencies of the lawfare approach to terrorism. Rather than classify this guy as an unlawful combatant and ship him to Gitmo, he will go through the court system where he and his terrorist associates will discover how we uncovered his association with terrorist so they can better mask their next attacks. They will find out how we track people in Pakistan and who our sources are. They will also learn the perils of talking with law enforcement officials. That appears to be one of their biggest mistakes so far.