Federal agents have arrested terror suspect Najibullah Zazi, who had been grilled for days about his knowledge of a bomb plot against New York, a spokeswoman for his attorney said.
The 24-year-old suspected al Qaeda bomb-maker was taken into custody along with his father, Mohammed, 53, yesterday in Colorado, where he is said to work as an airport shuttle driver.
He and his dad were busted in their Aurora, Colo., apartment at about 9:30 p.m., according to the Denver Post. They were later taken to jail and charged with making false statements, the paper said.
Zazi is believed by authorities to have been plotting a terror attack and even researched New York Fashion Week venues and sports stadiums, it was revealed yesterday.
Federal authorities found references to the twice-a-year Bryant Park fashion show on the computer of Zazi, a former coffee-cart vendor from Queens who has been interrogated three times by the FBI over the thwarted plot, according to ABCNews.com.
The FBI sent alerts to Giants Stadium over a possible threat, stadium security officials told The Post.
Authorities would not confirm that Fashion Week or the sports venues were targets in the nascent plot, but sources said text messages sent by Zazi indicated the attack was imminent.
Zazi wrote in one text that the “wedding cake is ready,” which could be code to indicate the plot was past the planning stage, ABC reported. Al Qaeda has used weddings as code for attack plans in England.
Event coordinator IMG, which runs Fashion Week, declined comment.
Meanwhile, sources told The Post that Wal-Mart stores upstate and on Long Island received increased security from State Police in response to the threat.
The FBI reportedly got information about the potential targets by copying Zazi’s computer hard disk when he was originally detained Sept. 10 on the George Washington Bridge.
Zazi allegedly told authorities he would be leading a coordinated bomb attack in New York, but he has denied the report.
Zazi, who didn’t show yesterday morning for a fourth round of talks with the FBI in Denver, where he now lives, spent the day holed up with his lawyer.
“If it was true, they wouldn’t allow me to leave,” Zazi told the Denver Post yesterday. “I don’t think the FBI or the police would allow anyone who admits being a terrorist to go free for one minute.”
“No future meetings are planned at this time,” Wendy Aiello, a spokeswoman for Zazi’s lawyer, Arthur Folsom, told the newspaper.
Investigators are convinced that a plot was in the works to detonate homemade hydrogen-peroxide-based bombs in backpacks simultaneously around New York City.
The FBI confiscated cellphones and nine identical backpacks that the feds believe were to be used in the attack, according to sources, and were checking the bags to see if they had come in contact with explosives.
In previous interviews with Zazi, federal investigators grilled him about alleged bomb-making training that he received during trips to Pakistan, according to reports.
Zazi, who immigrated to Queens from Afghanistan in 1999, was negotiating a plea agreement with the FBI when talks broke off.
Folsom, Zazi’s lawyer, has denied plea talks.
Zazi’s father reportedly told federal investigators his son received extensive bomb training by al Qaeda during one of his son’s many trips to Pakistan.
Najibullah denied that report, saying he was visiting his wife, who still lives there.
The FBI on Friday detained seven confederates of Zazi in Flushing over their role in the suspected bomb plot, law-enforcement sources said, although they have yet to be charged.
The early release of information about the Queens raids last week caused a rift between the FBI and the NYPD.