Suspect in anti-terror probe arrested in Colorado

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-20 14:08

Najibullah Zazi arrives at the offices of the FBI in Denver for questioning on Thursday September 17, 2009. [Agencies]

DENVER: Federal agents on Saturday arrested a Colorado man who had been under surveillance as part of an anti-terrorism investigation that came to light in a series of New York City raids this week, a spokeswoman for his attorney said.

The suspect, Najibullah Zazi, 24, a native of Afghanistan said to work as an airport shuttle driver in Colorado, was taken into custody along with his father after three days of questioning by the FBI in Denver, said Wendy Aiello, a spokeswoman for attorney Art Folsom.

Aiello said both men were taken to a local county jail for booking.

FBI agents entered Zazi's residence in suburban Aurora, Colorado, on Wednesday afternoon with a search warrant.

The entire three-story apartment building was roped off with yellow crime-scene tape, and authorities put black screens over the building's windows to prevent onlookers from seeing inside.

A house a few miles away was likewise cordoned off later in the day for what a local law enforcement source said was a search related to the anti-terrorism investigation.

The questioning of Zazi, who authorities suspect of sympathizing with al Qaeda, came days after he traveled to New York City.

He was stopped by authorities on September 10 while driving a rental car on the George Washington Bridge, which connects New York city with New Jersey, but later returned to Colorado.

Early on Monday, a joint anti-terrorism task force carried out a series of raids in an area of the Queens borough of New York where he had visited over the weekend.