Najibullah Zazi (, ; born August 10, 1985) is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the U.S. al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City Subway system, and who pleaded guilty as have two other defendants. U.S. prosecutors said Saleh al-Somali, al-Qaeda's head of external operations, and Rashid Rauf, an al-Qaeda operative, ordered the attack. Both were later killed in drone attacks.

Zazi underwent weapons and explosives training at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008. On September 9, 2009, he drove from his home in Aurora, Colorado, to New York City, intending to detonate explosives on the New York City subway during rush hour as one of three coordinated suicide "martyrdom" bombings. Spooked, however, by surveillance from U.S. intelligence, and warned by a local imam that the authorities were inquiring about him, he abruptly flew back to Colorado. He was arrested days later.

On February 22, 2010, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization. He said he was recruited by al-Qaeda in Pakistan for a suicide "martyrdom" attack against the U.S., and that his bombing target was the New York City subway system. Zazi faced a possible life sentence without possibility of parole for the first two counts, and an additional sentence of 15 years for the third count. Sentencing was initially scheduled to take in June 2011. In May 2019, it was announced Zazi would be released from prison after serving 10 years due to extensive cooperation with law enforcement.

Two of his high school classmates who had traveled with him to Pakistan, his father, his uncle, and an imam from Queens were indicted on related charges. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder referred to the planned attack as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since September 11, 2001."

Early life Zazi was born in a village in Paktia Province, Afghanistan to a Zazai Pashtun family. He has two sisters and two brothers. At the age of seven in 1992, he and his family moved to the city of Peshawar in Pakistan where they settled as Afghan refugees.

In 1999, he and the family left Pakistan and immigrated to New York City. They moved into a two-bedroom apartment in the Flushing, Queens section of the city. Mohammed Wali Zazi, Najibullah's father and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, found work as a New York City taxi driver.

From 1999–2009, Zazi lived with his family in Flushing. While he was a teenager, he and his family lived in the same apartment building as, and attended the same mosque, the Afghan Hazrat-i-Abu Bakr Sadiq mosque, as did its imam, Saifur Rahman Halimi. Halimi was a vocal pro-global jihad imam. He was chief representative to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan warlord who was declared a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" by the U.S. in 2003. Halimi and the Zazi family, among others, left the mosque at the same time, during a leadership disagreement. According to one of his friends, Zazi liked listening to Zakir Naik, an Indian Muslim televangelist who is an expert on comparative religion and theology.

Zazi struggled as a student at Flushing High School in Queens, eventually dropping out. From 2004–09, he operated a coffee and pastries vending cart on Stone Street in Lower Manhattan's Financial District., displaying a "God Bless America" sign on his cart.

In 2006, he traveled to Pakistan and married his 19-year-old cousin in an arranged marriage. He claimed that several trips he made to Pakistan between 2006 and 2008 were to visit his wife. In the course of his visits, Zazi and his wife had two children, whom he planned to relocate to the U.S.

Events leading to arrest Al-Qaeda training and direction On August 28, 2008, Zazi and others flew from New York to Peshawar, Pakistan, a city just east of Pakistan's volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (the FATA). The Center for Strategic and International Studies describes the FATA as:

ground zero in the U.S. Jihadist war, and home to many al-Qaeda operatives, especially the numerous foreigners from the Arab world, Central Asia Muslim areas of the Far East, and even Europe who flock to this war zone for training [and] indoctrination.

While there, they were recruited by al-Qaeda instead, and taken to a training camp in Waziristan, where they received training on several kinds of weapons. Al-Qaeda leaders asked them to return to the U.S. and conduct a martyrdom operation, and they agreed to do so. Later, he received additional training at the camp on explosives construction for an attack in the U.S., or to carry out a martyrdom operation. He took lengthy notes and emailed them to himself, so he could access them upon his return to the U.S. Al-Qaeda leaders also discussed target locations with Zazi, such as New York City subways. He gave money and computers to al-Qaeda before leaving Pakistan.

Bryant Neal Vinas

Zazi met American Bryant Neal Vinas in Pakistan in 2008.Rotella, Sebastian (December 7, 2009). "U.S. sees homegrown Muslim extremism as rising threat; This may have been the most dangerous year since 9/11, anti-terrorism experts say," Los Angeles Times, Retrieved February 25, 2010 Vinas, born in Queens, had also traveled to Pakistan (in November 2007) to join a jihadist group to fight against the U.S. military in Afghanistan.Rotella, Sebastian and Josh Meyer U.S.-born militant who fought for Al Qaeda is in custody . Los Angeles Times. July 22, 2009.Rashbaum, William K. and Souad Mekhennet. L.I. Man Pleaded Guilty in Attack on U.S. Base in Afghanistan . The New York Times July 22, 2009

Vinas was also recruited by al-Qaeda, and taken to a training camp in Waziristan. There, he also underwent weapons and explosives training (from late 2007 through August 2008). A senior al-Qaeda leader also discussed the operation of the New York City transit system with Vinas, in his case to help plan a bomb attack on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train in New York's Penn Station. Vinas was arrested in Peshwar, Pakistan, in November 2008, and pleaded guilty in the U.S. in February 2010 to participating in and supporting al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S.

Jihad Jane plot

Over the internet, Zazi befriended Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a Kansas City, Missouri-born medical assistant from Leadville, Colorado, who had converted to Islam, according to her family. She was arrested in March 2010 in the Jihad Jane plot to wage jihad and murder Swedish artist Lars Vilks, collecting the bounty offered by an al-Qaeda affiliate for his assassination.

Return to United States On January 15, 2009, Zazi returned to the United States Within days of his return, he moved to Aurora, Colorado, to live with his aunt and uncle. He worked as a driver for a company named "Big Sky", and then for ABC Airport Shuttle, driving a 15-person airport shuttle van between Denver International Airport and downtown Denver. Zazi filed for bankruptcy in New York State on March 26, 2009, with $51,000 in debts, and his bankruptcy was discharged on August 17, 2009. He lived with his aunt and uncle until July 2009, when his parents moved to Aurora from New York, and the three took up residence together.

Beginning around June 2009, he began looking for ingredients to make bombs. He conducted several internet searches for hydrochloric acid. He made some acetone peroxide for use as a detonator. He went to New York, where he reportedly had planning sessions with other conspirators.

Over the course of several months, the FBI listened to Zazi's phone conversations. In August 2009, the FBI overheard him speaking about mixing chemical substances. It learned that in July and August 2009 he and his three associates were buying large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and acetone products from beauty supply stores around Denver, Colorado. Workers at the Beauty Supply Warehouse in Aurora, Colorado would later tell CNN that Zazi was "a regular" at the store and had made several recent purchases shortly before his arrest, telling them that he had "a lot of girlfriends." Hydrogen peroxide and acetone are components of triacetone triperoxide (TATP; also known as acetone peroxide)-based bombs. TATP was also used in the 2005 London subway bombings, and by Richard Reid, the "shoe bomber".Conason, Joe, (February 23, 2010). "Holder Was Right" , The New York Observer; retrieved February 23, 2010. According to the United States Department of Justice, JPEG images of nine pages of handwritten formulations and instructions for making and handling TATP and other explosives were found in one of Zazi's email accounts; they mention that acetone is found in nail polish remover, and that hydrogen peroxide can be found in "Hair Salon - 20-30%."

Zazi checked into an Aurora motel suite on August 28 and on September 6 and 7, and used the room's kitchenette to create chemicals for use in bombs.Morris, Harvey, (February 23, 2010). "Afghan admits NY subway bomb plot", Financial Times; retrieved February 23, 2010 Authorities examined the kitchenette, and found traces of chemicals in the vent.

On September 9, 2009, he began a drive in a rented car from Denver to New York with bomb-making materials. Agents followed him. The day after he left Denver, two New York City Police Department Intelligence Division detectives asked imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, a Muslim cleric whom they had developed as an informant, to identify and provide information with regard to four individuals whose photographs they showed him. Afzali identified Zazi, who had prayed at Afzali's mosque, and two of the other three photos.

Zazi arrived in New York City on the afternoon of September 10, and spent the night at the residence of his childhood friend Naiz Kahn in Flushing, Queens."Target of NYC terror probe says he's innocent; Authorities warn police to be on look out for bomb materials", NBC News, September 15, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2010 He intended to finish building the bomb that weekend.

Bombing plot

The plan was for him and two high school friends to conduct coordinated suicide bombings early in the week. They planned to detonate backpack bombs on New York City Subway trains near New York's two busiest subway stations, the Grand Central and Times Square stations in Manhattan, during rush hour. They planned to board the middle of packed trains on the , , , and/or trains, to cause maximum casualties. Zazi rode the subway numerous times to try to determine where to set off the bombs. According to TIME, authorities believe Zazi was possibly planning an attack using backpack bombs, as previously used in the Madrid and London bombings.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the plot had been uncovered by Scotland Yard, which intercepted an e-mail from a senior al-Qaeda member in Pakistan to Zazi, instructing him how to implement his attack. The e-mail was intercepted as part of "Operation Pathway". Scotland Yard notified the FBI, which led to the operation that resulted in his arrest.

Capture

On September 10, as he crossed the George Washington Bridge headed for New York City, Zazi was pulled over by Port Authority Police, acting at the FBI's request, for what he was told was a routine random drug search, and his car was searched. They did not find anything of note, and he was allowed to go. Afzali's lawyer later wrote the court: "Even though [Zazi] is not the brightest bulb in the terrorist chandelier, the thinly-transparent ruse of a 'random' checkpoint stop did not fool him."