Two suspected associates of an Afghan immigrant accused of al-Qaeda links and plotting a bombing spree in New York were arrested on Friday.
One of the men, taxi driver Zarein Ahmedzay, pleaded not guilty in a Brooklyn, New York, federal court to a single charge of making false statements to the FBI.
FBI agents arrested Ahmedzay and also Bosnian immigrant Adis Medunjanin earlier on Friday. Charges against the latter were not immediately made public.
Both men remained in custody.
A law enforcement source described the two as “associates” of Najibullah Zazi, who is accused of training with al-Qaeda in Pakistan and planning to detonate bombs in New York around last year’s anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The arrests came as the US government and security services are reeling from their failure to prevent an attempt to blow up a Northwest plane bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.
US President Barack Obama has repeatedly singled out the Zazi investigation as proof that US intelligence is in fact doing a good job against an increasingly multi-headed foe.
However it was not immediately clear how much of a breakthrough in the Zazi probe the arrests would prove.
Zazi, who is also being held in detention pending trial in Brooklyn, is accused of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Little detail has been revealed by the authorities about what he allegedly plotted.
A conspiracy requires more than one perpetrator and, so far, no one has been charged as Zazi’s co-conspirator.
Ahmedzay is not accused of terrorism or taking part in the alleged plot against New York, but lying to investigators.
Ahmedzay’s attorney, Michael Marinaccio, said his client, who says he is a naturalized US citizen, is accused of having “lied about whether he knew whether John Doe went to Pakistan for military training.”
Ahmedzay made trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2008 and was questioned by the FBI last year, Marinaccio said. He has family in both countries.
But to infer that Ahmedzay was part of a terrorist plot would “be stretching” the charge against him, Marinaccio said.
The New York Times reported that both Ahmedzay and Medunjanin had participated in Zazi’s Pakistan trip, making them prime suspects in the unfolding bomb plot probe.
It said the trio attended the same New York high school.
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