Terror suspect set for 4th day of talks with FBI

DENVER (AP) - A man under investigation in a terrorism probe in New York and Denver is scheduled to meet with FBI agents again Saturday morning.

The Associated Press reports Najibullah Zazi has indicated he is associated with al-Qaeda and played a key role in a planned terror attack, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Friday.

The intelligence official in Washington told The Associated Press that Zazi has indicated that he is directly linked with al-Qaeda.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters, said Zazi played a crucial role in an intended terrorist attack, but that it was not immediately clear what the targets were.

9Wants to Know has learned Zazi will be questioned at FBI offices in Denver on Saturday, his fourth day of questioning there.
Zazi was back at his apartment Friday night.

NBC News is reporting Najibullah Zazi has admitted to ties to al-Qaeda and has admitted attending a terror training camp in Pakistan.

9Wants To Know reporter Jace Larson spoke with Zazi's attorney, Aurthur Folsom, Friday evening. Folsom says his client did not admit to having ties to al-Qaeda and did not admit to going to a terrorist training camp. Folsom says he plans to clarify many things on Saturday.

NBC News says Najibullah Zazi denies planning to stage attacks in the United States.

On Friday afternoon, 9Wants to Know learned that Zazi's father, Mohamed Zazi, is cooperating with authorities and was also questioned by the FBI as part of the investigation. There's no indication he is suspected of any wrongdoing.

FBI agents are investigating Najibullah Zazi as part of a possible terror plot with ties to the Denver metro area.

A spokeswoman for Folsom said Friday that FBI agents didn't say why they want to talk to Zazi's father.

The spokesperson, Wendy Aiello, says Zazi's father met with FBI agents at 1 p.m. The family has been fully cooperating with the FBI. She added that she does not know how long the interviews will last, and that updates will be available when she gets them.

A source with Sen. Mark Udall's (D-Colorado) office told 9Wants to Know, "The senator is getting regular briefings from the FBI on Zazi. The investigation is ongoing. Details of the investigation are classified."

The senator's office says there is still no threat to Colorado or the United States. Colorado's Homeland Security Coordinator also says Coloradans were never in danger.

"The Governor is being kept up-to-date and up-to-speed as new things are becoming known through frequent briefings," said Major General Mason Whitney, Colorado's Homeland Security chief. "We're supportive of the FBI in this investigation and are working closely with the Joint Terrorism Task Force in our intelligence center. If there was a threat, we would be informed of it."

Whitney adds despite intelligence efforts, Coloradans in general need to be vigilant.

"No one has a crystal ball that says when and where the next threat will come from," Whitney said.

The younger Zazi arrived to begin his third day of questioning Friday morning at the Federal Building. Najibullah Zazi says he agreed to the questioning because he says he wants to clear his name.

"He understands the only way to clear his name is to cooperate fully, so that's what we're doing," Folsom said.

The FBI searched the apartment in Arapahoe County where Najibullah Zazi and Mohamed Zazi live on Wednesday. Agents also searched a house in Aurora belonging to one of Zazi's relative on the same day. The FBI will not say what, if anything was found.

The searches took place while Najibullah Zazi, 24, was being questions by FBI agents, the first of three such meeting this week. Najibullah Zazi met with investigators from 2 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday and then again on Thursday from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.

After the initial day of questioning, Folsom elaborated on the questions posed to Najibullah Zazi, who has denied terrorist ties to 9Want to Know.

"There were a significant number of questions about individuals in New York, what his relationship is with each of them, how long he's known them and where he met them. We spent time talking about what went on while in New York and what he saw, who he talked to, times, dates and places, his reason for going there," Folsom told 9Wants to Know.

9Wants to Know has also confirmed new details about how FBI agents are continuing their investigation. Agents visited area storage units last week and this week showing employees pictures of several Middle Eastern-looking men and women. The agents are trying to determine if anyone in the pictures rented a storage unit recently.

"This week, they came back with four pictures, one of the same individual that's being interviewed by the FBI right now and three others, women and a man. But they never rented here. So we talked and he left," storage facility manager Harvey Boardman said.

The new storage unit information follows 9Wants to Know's reports Thursday and Wednesday of agents visiting Home Depot and pool supply stores.

Agents have asked for information from each store and to see records of people who might have purchased chemicals used to make an explosive device.

Throughout this investigation, the FBI has said they cannot comment on any of these reports.

Najibullah Zazi's name and the terror investigation surfaced after federal sources told WNBC-TV in New York that agents had been monitoring the Arapahoe County man after he drove a rental car to New York in early September.

He told the Denver Post he was traveling there to deal with an issue over a coffee cart that his family owns in Manhattan. While he was in New York, police stopped him on a bridge leading into the city and searched the rental car and his laptop computer. Police later towed his car, and Najibullah Zazi said he suspected he was being watched.

NBC News reports that authorities found documents in Najibullah Zazi's rented car that contained formulas for making explosives. Investigators in Colorado are now checking to see whether he recently bought any bomb-making ingredients.

FBI agents executed search warrants at an apartment in Queens, New York on Monday as part of the investigation. NBC News has learned they seized nine backpacks in the raid.

Najibullah Zazi flew back to Colorado and learned about the raids in Queens after friends called him and shortly before his apartment was searched.

No charges have been filed.

Najibullah Zazi has not been arrested. Three others interviewed during the raids in Queens on Monday in several residences as part of the terrorist investigation were not arrested either.

On Thursday, the Associated Press quoted an unnamed official as saying that Zazi had contact with a known al-Qaeda associate and that agents had been monitoring five people in Colorado, including Zazi.

As part of the investigation, the Post reports that investigators have also checked taxi cab and shuttle drivers at Denver International Airport and have used dogs to check cabs and shuttles.

Najibullah Zazi works at ABC Shuttle in Aurora. It operates at DIA.

U.S. Senator Michael Bennet's office had no comment about the terror investigation.

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