Ringleader in foiled plot to bomb New York subway nearly ten years ago could be handed a lighter sentence for 'switching sides and sharing information about other al-Qaeda terrorists'
- Najibullah Zazi testified against one of the co-conspirators in the New York plot
- He was arrested in 2009 and is finally due to be sentenced in Brooklyn tomorrow
- At the time the plot was discovered he was described as being the man behind 'one of the most serious threats to our nation' since the September 11 attacks
The ringleader of a plot to bomb New York City's subway could get off with a lighter prison sentence tomorrow after he switched sides and offered valuable intelligence on al-Qaeda.
Najibullah Zazi - once described as the man behind 'one of the most serious threats to our nation' since 9/11 - has helped prosecutors to bring down other terrorists after pleading guilty to his role in the plot.
Following his 2009 arrest he testified against co-conspirator Adis Medunjanin - who is now serving prison time at a 'Supermax' prison in Florence, Colorado.
He also helped to convict Muhanad Mahmoud al-Farekh, a U.S. citizen born in Texas who was found guilty of supporting al-Qaeda and conspiring to bomb a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.
Najibullah Zazi, who admitted being the ringleader of a plot to bomb New York City's subway, may receive a lighter sentence after co-operating with the government
In 2015, he gave critical evidence in the trial of Abid Naseer, a Pakistani national convicted of leading an al-Qaeda plot to bomb a shopping mall in England.
As a result he may escape without a life sentence when he is sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday.
The full extent of Zazi's cooperation has yet to be publicly disclosed but some elements have become public through his testimony in other terror prosecutions.
Another fellow conspirator in the New York plot, Zarein Ahmedzay, met with the government more than 100 times as part of his own co-operation.
In return, the same judge who will decide Zazi's punishment sentenced Ahmedzay last December to only 10 years- essentially time served.
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Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University's Program on Extremism, predicted Zazi would also get 'considerably less' than a life sentence.
Prosecutors at the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office 'tend to look favorably on cooperation when it comes to terrorism cases,' he said.
And the lengthy lag between Zazi's guilty plea and sentencing, Hughes added, 'speaks to the value that prosecutors saw in terms of Zazi testifying against others.'
Born in Afghanistan, Zazi moved to Pakistan as a child and then relocated to New York City as a teenager.
At age 14 he was living in Queens, where his father drove a cab. Friends said he initially seemed to like American life. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen and took a job operating a coffee cart on Wall Street.
Fellow food vendors said Zazi changed, though, after a series of trips back to Pakistan.
Zazi (pictured after his arrest by the FBI in 2009) is due to be sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday, and may escape without a life sentence
He grew a long beard, stopped wearing western clothes in favor of tunics and began playing holy music. He also ran into financial problems, declaring bankruptcy in 2008.
Not long after that, Zazi and two childhood friends from Queens- Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin - agreed to travel to Pakistan in 2008 to try to join the Taliban.
Instead, they were recruited by al-Qaida operatives for a 'martyrdom operation' on U.S. soil.
The plot called for the three men to conduct suicide bombings on subway lines during rush hour near the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Zazi, who had moved to a Denver suburb and briefly worked as an airport shuttle driver, later said he wanted to 'bring attention to what the United States military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan by sacrificing my soul for the sake of saving other souls.'
He cooked up explosives in a Colorado hotel room, made from a recipe of beauty supplies.
Secretly, though, the FBI had gotten tipped off that Zazi was involved with militants.
He was placed under surveillance in Colorado and followed as he drove to New York, where police stopped his car as it entered the city. Officers let him go, but his rental car was later towed by the FBI.
Zazi was further spooked by a call from a Queens imam warning police were asking about him. He rushed back to Colorado.
FBI agents executed a series of raids. News outlets learned of the investigation and also began hounding Zazi, who told reporters he had no idea what was going on. He was soon arrested.
Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder said Zazi was behind 'one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation' since the September 11 attacks.
Other would-be terrorists have been able to gain their freedom by cooperating with prosecutors.
American Al-Qaeda recruit Bryant Neal Vinas, who spent years providing investigators with details on militant activities after he was arrested in 2008 in Pakistan, was sentenced to time served - about eight years - and released in 2017.
