Alleged NYC Terror Plot Suspect Returns Home After FBI Raid
Najibullah Zazi's Denver home was raided as FBI questioned him for 8 1/2 hours.
Sept.. 17, 2009 — -- FBI agents have raided the suburban Denver home of the man authorities say is at the center of an alleged al Qaeda plot to carry out attacks in New York City.
The agents arrived at the home of Najibullah Zazi late Wednesday afternoon and left at about 11:23 p.m. One of the agents told ABC News the squad was carrying out a search warrant but declined to comment further.
Agents came down the stairs from the third-floor apartment, some carrying paper bags and microwave-size objects wrapped in brown paper that were loaded into FBI vehicles. FBI officials would not comment on what they found.
Zazi, 24, pulled up to his apartment in a white SUV minutes later, at 11:30 p.m., fresh from a meeting at Denver FBI headquarters that lasted eight and a half hours. He declined to answer any questions and briefly struggled to open his front door, which had been forced open by FBI agents serving a search warrant earlier in the day.
"You know, I am so tired that I don't even have a minute to even talk for one second, sir," he said in response to questions from reporters at the scene.
Earlier in the evening, agents also finished a search at a house on Ontario Place in Aurora that records show is occupied by Zazi's aunt, Rabia Zazi. The door to the residence had heavy damage from being smashed open when agents arrived. Nobody answered repeated knocks on the door. FBI Special Agent Kathy Wright would not comment on details of the investigation, but confirmed that the two locations were the only ones searched Wednesday.
Zazi's attorney, Art Folsom, said he and his client met for more than eight hours Wednesday with investigators at FBI headquarters in Denver. Folsom described the questioning as cordial and detailed but declined to go into specifics. Zazi is scheduled to meet with the FBI again this afternoon.
Folsom insisted that his client is not under arrest and is not being called a suspect. He downplayed reports that bomb-making materials were found in Zazi's apartment.
"If they had found something, would you let a guy go if he's already sitting in your building?" Folsom said.
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