The New York City Subway Bombing That Almost Happened.

In September 2009, homegrown terrorists, that had linked with Al Qaeda foreign extremists, planned to walk onto New York City subway train station and into Grand Central Terminal with bombs in their backpacks. They wanted to explode themselves on the trains that were ridden by more than 5 million people each day. They wanted to accomplish this on or around the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. This would have turned out to be the biggest disaster New York had seen since those attacks.

New York has close to 9 million residents and and has the largest rapid transit system in the world. With thousands of entrances and exists, the New York subway is an easy target for terrorists.

On September 6th, 2009, a counter-terrorist agent at the United States National Security Agency saw an email from someone in the United States to an Al Qaeda courier, Rashid Rauf, using coded phrases and asking for what appeared to be the ingredients in how to make a bomb. 

The Agency discovered that these emails were coming from Najibullah Zazi in Aurora, Colorado. After Zazi got a reply from Rauf, Zazi hit the road on September 8th.  He was driving 90 miles an hour to New York. After his departure, investigators discovered that while in Colorado, Zazi had experimented and made TATP, also known as triacetone triperoxide,  a white, crystalline explosive. Investigators theorized that he probably was taking this to New York City.

Law enforcement began to reach out to sellers of potential bomb materials in Denver. They found surveillance video from a beauty supply store that showed Zazi buying several bottles of hydrogen peroxide, a core ingredient in TATP.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force took up the case. The JTTF are locally-based multi-agency partnerships between various federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies tasked with investigating terrorism and terrorism-related crimes, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Department of Justice. While they were keeping track of Zazi's movements, they also researched Zazi's past.   

Zazi was born on August 10th, 1985, in a village in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. In 1992, he and his family moved to the city of Peshawar in Pakistan where they settled as Afghan refugees. 

In 1999, Zazi and his 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 was now a naturalized U.S. citizen and he found work as a New York City taxi driver.

While he was a teenager, he and his family lived in the same apartment building and attended the same mosque as Saifur Rahman Halimi, 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. 

Zazi dropped out of Flushing Queen's High School and then he operated a coffee and pastries vending cart on Stone Street in Lower Manhattan's Financial District.

In 2006, he traveled to Pakistan and married his 19-year-old cousin in an arranged marriage. He claimed 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 move to the U.S.

On August 28th, 2008, Zazi and others flew from New York to Peshawar, Pakistan, a city just east of Pakistan's volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It was in northwestern Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with neighboring province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018. It is allegedly ground zero in the U.S. Jihadist war, and home to many al-Qaeda operatives. Numerous foreigners flock to this war zone for training indoctrination.

Within days of returning from Pakistan, Zazi moved to Aurora, Colorado and took a job as an airport shuttle bus driver in Denver.

Back to September of 2009. On the 10th, agents come up with a ruse to stop Zazi's car so they can get a better look at what he was carrying so they could determine if he should be left alone, or if he was really up to trouble. 

They decided to make the stop on the George Washington Bridge.

The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the New York City borough of Manhattan with the New Jersey borough of Fort Lee. It is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge.

So, they shut down the bridge and stopped Zazi under the guise of a routine traffic stop, possibly looking for drugs. Authorities had a police dog sniffing around his car. However, the dog wasn't a drug sniffing dog, it was there to try to sniff out explosives. The dog didn't alert to any threat and the Port Authority had to let him on through to Manhattan.

Multiple surveillance teams watched Zazi as he made his way through Manhattan. Zazi drove around for awhile, then went to Queens and then to a Mosque. He then drove around to the back of te Mosque and out of sight of the surveillance team. After a few hours, Zazi left the Mosque and headed back to Queens.

While all of this was going on analysts found phone, travel and communication records. In doing so they found out that Zazi wasn't working alone. 

He had two co-conspirators in New York, Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin. Both men were two of Zazi's high school classmates from Queens. They had traveled with him to Pakistan in 2008.

Ahmedzay, a New York City cab driver born in Afghanistan and lived in Flushing, Queens, tested to become a city firefighter in 2007.

Medunjanin,a Bosnian immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1994, and was naturalized in 2002, and lived in Flushing, Queens. He played on his high school football team and graduated from Queens College with a major in Economics in June 2009.

Motivated by the United States war in Afganastan and what they deemed a crusade against Islam by the west, in 2006, Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin began following the teachings of Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki.

Al-Awlaki's was a very good public speaker and command of the English language helped him attract followers who did not speak Arabic. He was describe as having an allure and being charming. He was a Yemeni-American imam. Imam is an Islamic leadership position and is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque and Muslim community and may lead Islamic worship services, serve as community leaders , and provide religious guidance. In Yemen, the title was formerly given to the king of the country.

U.S. government officials say that al-Awlaki was a senior recruiter and motivator and centrally involved in planning terrorist operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. 

He was born in 1971 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to parents from Yemen, while his father, Nasser al-Awlaki, was doing graduate work at U.S. universities. His father was a Fulbright Scholar who earned a master's degree in agricultural economics at New Mexico State University in 1971, received a doctorate at the University of Nebraska, and worked at the University of Minnesota from 1975 to 1977. Nasser al-Awlaki served as Agriculture Minister in Ali Abdullah Saleh's government. He was also President of Sana'a University and was related to Yemen's Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Mujur.

The family returned to Yemen in 1978, when al-Awlaki was seven years old. He lived there for 11 years, and studied at Azal Modern School.

In 1991, al-Awlaki returned to the U.S. and earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University, where he was president of the Muslim Student Association. He attended the university on a foreign student visa and a government scholarship from Yemen, claiming to be born in that country.

In 1993, while still a college student al-Awlaki visited Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Soviet occupation. He spent some time training with the mujahideen who were fighting the Soviets. He was depressed by the country's poverty and hunger. 

Al-Awlaki studied Education Leadership at San Diego State University, but did not complete his degree. He worked on a doctorate in Human Resource Development at The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development in 2001.

In 1994, al-Awlaki married a cousin from Yemen, and began service as a part-time imam of the Denver Islamic Society. In 1996, he was chastised for encouraging a Saudi student to fight in Chechnya against the Russians. So he moved to San Diego soon after.

From 1996–2000, al-Awlaki was imam of the Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami mosque in San Diego, California, where he had a following of about 300 people.U.S. officials later alleged that two of the hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77 attended his sermons and personally met him during this period. The reportedly had high respect for him as a religious leader. One of the hijackers later lived in Northern Virginia and attended al-Awlaki's mosque there. While in San Diego, al-Awlaki volunteered with youth organizations and created a popular and lucrative series of recorded lectures.

In August 1996 and in April 1997, al-Awlaki was arrested in San Diego and charged with soliciting prostitutes. The first time, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was fined $400 and required to attend informational sessions about AIDS. The second time, he pleaded guilty and was fined $240, ordered to perform 12 days of community service, and received three years' probation. From November 2001 to January 2002 the FBI observed him visiting a number of prostitutes. They were interviewed and it was established that he had paid for sex acts, but no prosecution was brought during this time.

In 1998 and 1999, he served as vice-president for the Charitable Society for Social Welfare, which is a Yemen-based Non-governmental organization known for offering charitable and humanitarian services to the masses. It also is accredited by the United Nations World Food Program and is also a member of the United Nations Department of Public Information. In 2004, the FBI described this group as a "front organization to funnel money to terrorists", however, there was no solid proof of these allegations.

In January 2001 al-Awlaki returned to the U.S., settling in the Washington metropolitan area where he was imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque near Falls Church, Virginia. He led academic discussions frequented by FBI Director of Counter-Intelligence for the Middle East Gordon M. Snow. Al-Awlaki also served as the Muslim chaplain at George Washington University, where he was hired by Esam Omeish.

When police investigated the 9/11 attacks, they found the telephone number of al-Awlaki among Ramzi bin al-Shibh's personal contacts. The FBI interviewed al-Awlaki four times in the eight days following the 9/11 attacks. One detective believed al-Awlaki "was at the center of the 9/11 story". And an FBI agent said, "if anyone had knowledge of the plot, it would have been" him, since "someone had to be in the U.S. and keep the hijackers spiritually focused". One 9/11 Commission staff member said: "Do I think he played a role in helping the hijackers here, knowing they were up to something? Yes. Do I think he was sent here for that purpose? I have no evidence for it." A separate Congressional Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks suggested that al-Awlaki may have been connected to the hijackers. Six days after the 9/11 attacks, al-Awlaki suggested in writing on and Islamic website that Israeli intelligence agents might have been responsible for the attacks, and that the FBI "went into the roster of the airplanes, and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default".

Al-Awlaki was sought in Washington, D.C. by the media to answer questions about Islam, its rituals, and its relation to the attacks. In interviews al-Awlaki condemned the attacks. To some he appeared to be a moderate who could bridge the gap between the United States and the worldwide community of Muslims. Some months after the 9/11 attacks, a Pentagon employee invited al-Awlaki to speak at a luncheon in the Secretary's Office of General Counsel.

In 2002, al-Awlaki was the first imam to conduct a prayer service for the Congressional Muslim Staffer Association at the U.S. Capitol. That year, Nidal Malik Hasan visited al-Awlaki's mosque for his mother's funeral, at which al-Awlaki presided. In November 2009 Hasan killed 13 and wounded 32 in the Fort Hood shooting.

Later in 2002, al-Awlaki posted an essay in Arabic on the Islam Today website titled "Why Muslims Love Death".  By July, al-Awlaki was under investigation in the United States for having received money from the subject of a U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation and his name was added to the list of terrorism suspects.

In June 2002, a Denver federal judge signed an arrest warrant for al-Awlaki for passport fraud. On October 9, the complaint was withdrew and the arrest warrant was vacated due to lack of sufficient evidence. Allegedly, the Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego disagreed with the decision to cancel the warrant. They were monitoring al-Awlaki and wanted to "look at him under a microscope".

While living in Northern Virginia, al-Awlaki visited Ali al-Timimi, later known as a radical Islamic cleric. Al-Timimi was convicted in 2005 and is now serving a life sentence for leading the Virginia Jihad Network, inciting Muslim followers to fight with the Taliban against the US. 

Al-Awlaki left the United States before the end of 2002 and lived in the UK for several months, where he gave talks urging young Muslim followers: "The important lesson to learn here is never, ever trust a kuffar [disbeliever]. Do not trust them! [Their leaders] are plotting to kill this religion. They're plotting night and day."

In a series of lectures he gave in December 2002 and January 2003 he described the rewards martyrs receive in paradise. He then undertook a lecture tour of England and Scotland in 2002 in conjunction with the Muslim Association of Britain. He also lectured at "ExpoIslamia", an event held by Islamic Forum Europe.  At one of his lectures, he told his audience: "A Muslim is a brother of a Muslim... he does not betray him, and he does not hand him over... You don't hand over a Muslim to the enemies."

Al-Awlaki returned to Yemen in early 2004, where he lived in Shabwah Governorate with his wife and five children. He lectured at Iman University, headed by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, who is on the UN 1267 Committee's list of individuals belonging to or associated with al-Qaeda.

On August 31st, 2006, al-Awlaki was arrested with four others on charges of kidnapping a Shiite teenager for ransom, and participating in an al-Qaeda plot to kidnap a U.S. military attaché. He was imprisoned in 2006 and 2007. He was interviewed around September 2007 by two FBI agents with regard to the 9/11 attacks and other subjects. He was also band from entering the U.K.

His name was on a list of 100 prisoners whose release was sought by al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen. Al-Awlaki was released on December 12th, 2007, following the intercession of his tribe. According to a Yemeni security official, he was released because he had repented. He moved to his family home in Saeed, a hamlet in the Shabwa mountains.

In December 2008, al-Awlaki sent a communique to the Somali terrorist group, al-Shabaab, congratulating them.

Al-Awlaki provided al-Qaeda members in Yemen with the protection of his tribe against the government. The tribal code required it to protect those who seek refuge and assistance.The tribe's motto is "We are the sparks of Hell; whomever interferes with us will be burned." 

Al-Awlaki went into hiding in March 2009.

Al-Awlaki wasn't the only one who Zazi and his two classmates looked to for inspiration.

Zakir Naik caught their eyes as well.  

Naik is an Indian Islamic televangelist and Islamic preacher. He publicly stated that Jews control the U.S. and that apostates(people that don't follow Islam) can be killed. 

He was born on October 18th, 1965 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He attended Kishinchand Chellaram College and studied medicine at the Topiwala National Medical College & BYL Nair Charitable Hospital and later the University of Mumbai, where he obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery.

In 1991 he started working in the field of Dawah, and founded the Islamic Research Foundation. Naik's wife, Farhat Naik, is the President of the women's section of the Islamic Research Foundation.

Naik lectures are given in English, not Urdu or Arabic, and he usually wears a suit and tie. He is said to "have delivered over 2000/4000 lectures around the world". He is extremely popular in Muslim circles. Many of his debates are recorded and widely distributed in video and DVD media and online. His talks have been recorded in English and broadcast on weekends on several cable networks in Mumbai's Muslim neighborhoods, and on the Peace TV channel, which he co-produces.

In 2004 Naik, at the invitation of the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia, made an appearance at the University of Melbourne, where he said the more "revealing Western dress" makes women more susceptible to rape.

Naik states that it is permissible to beat one's wife "gently". He argues that a man is the leader, so he has the right. He also said that Muslims have the right to sex with their female slaves where he referred to slaves as "prisoners of war".

Naik says that music is as evil as alcohol and says that both are intoxicating in nature. He has condemned dancing and singing because he claims they are prohibited in Islam.

He also said that people guilty of stealing must be punished and says that their hands should be chopped off. He has recommended that the United States implements this logic in order to reduce criminality.

Naik referred to the LGBT community as "patients suffering from sinful mental problems" and said that "It's because they watch pornographic movies." He recommends the "death penalty" for homosexuals.

Naik Dismisses Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

According to Naik, most scientists "support the theory, because it went against the Bible – not because it was true."

Naik has claimed, western powers and media play a double-standard strategy, who describe Muslims as extremists and fundamentalists to defame Islam. 

Naik said about the September 11 attacks that "it is a blatant, open secret that this attack on the Twin Towers was done by George Bush himself".

He allegedly denounces terrorism. "I have always condemned terrorism, because according to the glorious Koran, if you kill one innocent person, then you have killed the whole of humanity."

Naik said that ISIS is "anti-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" and said that the enemies of Islam were promoting ISIS. He opposed the move by the United States government to launch an attack on ISIS in Syria and Iraq that, while strongly condemning the acts of the Islamic State group. 

Back to Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin. By 2008 they saw it as their duty to wage Jihad (a war against the enemies of Islam) in Afghanistan.

On August 28th, 2008, it was Ahmedzay and Medunjanin who flew from New York to Peshawar, Pakistam with Zazi. While there they were recruited by al-Qaeda and taken to a training camp in Waziristan, where they received training on several kinds of weapons. Allegedly, Al-Qaeda leaders asked them to return to the U.S. and conduct a suicide bombing martyrdom operation, and they agreed to do so. Zazi emailed himself lengthy notes he took, 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.

Fast forward to September 10th, 2009. The authorities now had three potential  terrorists to keep an eye on. Agents followed Zazi's to a house in Queens where they believed that he was going to meet members of his cell, to connect the TATP detonator he already made to a main charge, which could be assembled into a suicide vest or backpack. There was around 15 people staying in that particular house. The authorities didn't know if they were a part of the terrorist plot or not, so they had to surveil them all. It it turned out that the other people staying there were innocent to the terrorist plot.

The next day, Zazi had left his car parked on a street and the Evidence Recovery Team checked it out while another team followed Zazi. They found his laptop in the car and mirrored it, before putting everything back together and leaving. "The Cookbook" for the bomb was found on Zazi's computer.

Before the JTTF made a move, they wanted to make sure they had enough to act on, so Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjanin were not immediately arrested.

Zazi purchased a plane ticked back to Denver and agents believed that he found out somehow about the surveillance on him on him. The agents' theory turned out to be  correct. A man named Ahmad Wais Afzali was their leak. 

Afzali was a resident of Flushing, Queens, and legal permanent resident of the U.S., born in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was an imam at a Queens mosque, and ran the Islamic Burial Funeral Service, a Queens funeral parlor.

Afzali was one of the NYPD's sources and they had previously had went to Afzali and asked him about Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjain. After telling the NYPD what he knew, he called Zazi's father and then talked to Zazi's himself and warned Zazi that the authorities were looking into him. 

After Zazi talked to Afzali, Zazi picked up Ahmedzay and went to a mosque and destroyed some evidence that helped him make the bomb. 

Later, Ahmedzay went back to his house where Zazi had given him a jar full of TATP and he flushed it down the toilet. While Ahmedzay was getting rid of the explosive, Zazi saw Medunjain at the Mosque and took out his cell phone and wrote a text message which he showed to Medunjain. The text message said that the police were onto them. Medunjain saw it and then Zazi's erased it, so that there would be no record.

Zazi then went back to Denver. Meanwhile, authorities in New York were still continuing their investigation and still surveilling  Ahmedzay and Medunjain.

On September 16th agents in Denver brought Zazi in for an interview and asked him about his travel to Pakistan and what he was doing in New York around September 11th. They also asked him why he had a scale in his luggage. Zazi told the agents he didn't know how the scale ended up in there. The agents then showed Zazi's a copy of the bomb notes and told him that they had found it on his computer. Zazi then took full credit for planning to explode bombs on the New York subway system. He said that he had changed his mind at the last minute and couldn't go through with it. The FBI then arrested Zazi and took him into custody.

The agents then executed a search warrant at Medunjain's home. When he saw the search warrant, Medunjain ran out of the house, jumped in his car and started racing down the crowded Northern Boulevard in Queens. Agents follow him as he weaves in and out of traffic. He then got on the Whitestone Expressway and as he does this, he picked up his cellphone and called 9-1-1 and said, "My name is Adis. I love death more than you love life. I love death more than you love life. Allah Akbar."

It is said that on the 9-1-1 tape you can then hear Medunjain accelerating and then crashing into the car in front of him. 

An off duty police officer witnessed the crash and yelled. "Hey Buddy, why are you leaving a fender bender?" at Medunjain as he is running away. 

Medunjain came back and told the officer, "The reason i'm running is because the FBI is after me. They think i'm a terrorist."

That is when the surveillance team came running towards Medunjain. The officer then pulled out his gun and pointed at Medunjain and held him there for the JTT.

When Medunjain was taken into custody, he waived his right to an attorney and confessed to everything.

Now the JTT needs to bring Ahmedzay in. At this point, he was in Times Square driving his cab.

At the time, Times Square was one of the world's busiest pedestrian areas. It was one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people passed through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, while over 460,000 pedestrians walked through Times Square on its busiest days.

Ahmedzay was pulled over and brought to the JTT. He was also arrested.

After Zazi, Ahmedzay and Medunjain were interview, the whole story of their terrorism plot was unfolded.  The trio planned to arm themselves with suicide vests, jump on multiple trains on the New York subway during rush hour and blow themselves up.

On September 19th, 2009, authorities arrested Zazi, and on September 21st they charged him in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado with making false statements in a matter involving international and domestic terrorism. New charges and allegations were filed against him in the Eastern District of New York on September 23 and the prior charges dropped. A federal grand jury there returned an indictment charging him with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.

Zazi cooperated after being told that his parents could be charged with immigration fraud.

On February 22nd, 2010, Zazi pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to a terrorist organization. His guilty plea was the result of a plea bargain with the prosecution.

He refused to name which subway line was the target of the plot. He said the intent of his suicide mission was to draw the attention to activities of the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

Zazi faces 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 place on June 24, 2011, but he was moved to a secret location and his sentencing was said to be scheduled for September 2013. As of May 2017, Zazi has still yet to be sentenced, as his cooperation was still considered to be helpful to authorities. 

He testified against fellow American al-Qaeda recruit Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh at his trial in 2017.

Medunjain was indicted for receiving military-type training from al-Qaeda. He pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and receiving military-style training from al-Qaeda. On February 25th, 2010, Medunjain pleaded not guilty to additional charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to al-Qaeda. 

On May 21st, 2012, Medunjanin was found guilty of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder of U.S. military personnel abroad, providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda, receiving military training from al-Qaeda, conspiring and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and using firearms and destructive devices in relation to these offenses.

On November 16th, 2012, United States federal judge John Gleeson sentenced him to life imprisonment. When asked if he had anything to say, Medunjanin responded by reciting several verses from the Quran.

Ahmedzay initially pleaded not guilty to a charge of making false statements to the FBI about his activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. On February 25, 2010, he also pleaded not guilty to additional charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to al-Qaida. However, on April 23, he pleaded guilty to the charges. He said his motive was to end alleged wars against Islam. At one point he had doubts, but later resolved to carry out the plot. He then claimed "the real enemies of this country are the ones destroying this country from within. And I believe these are the special group, the Zionist Jews, I believe, who want a permanent shadow government within the government of the United States of America." On December 14th, 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

On September 19th, 2009, authorities also arrested Zazi's father, Mohammed Wali Zazi, for destroying evidence. He was released on $50,000 bond and was placed under house arrest. He was convicted in July 2011 of destroying evidence and lying to investigators to cover up his son's plot. On Friday, February 10th, 2012, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for obstructing the federal investigation of his son.

Ahmad Wais Afzali was also arrested. He was charged with and convicted of lying to the FBI about a conversation in which Afzali informed Zazi he was under surveillance. He was charged with having told Zazi that he was being watched, and lying to the FBI in a matter involving terrorism. He initially pleaded not guilty, faced up to eight years in prison and deportation if convicted, and was freed on $1.5 million bail.

In a plea bargain he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of lying to U.S. federal agents, and said he was sorry. Afzali faced up to six months in prison, and as part of the plea arrangement the government agreed not to request any jail time. As part of his plea agreement, Afzali voluntarily left the U.S. in July 2010, within 90 days of his conviction.As a felon and under the terms of his plea bargain Afzali may not return to the U.S. unless given special permission.

Afzali denied any intention of aiding terrorism or misleading authorities, and according to his lawyer he was "caught in a turf war between the NYPD and the FBI." 

Zazi's uncle by marriage, Naqib Jaji, had lived in Queens before moving to Colorado. He was also arrested. Jaji was brought before a judge in closed proceedings on January 14th, 2010. He was released on January 22nd.

On April 12th, 2010, it was reported that a fourth suspect was arrested in Pakistan. One or two more suspects are being sought outside the U.S.