An alleged al Qaeda operative was extradited to New York from Great Britain yesterday to face charges of participating in a plot to attack international targets, including Big Apple subways.
Pakistan-born Abid Nasser, 26, had been in British custody for 2 1/2 years before authorities put him on a New York-bound jet yesterday.
Prosecutors charge that Nasser was one of eight members of an al Qaeda ring that schemed in 2009 to launch terror attacks against New York’s subways, the city center of Manchester, England, and a target in Denmark.
Nasser, who is due to appear in Brooklyn federal court Monday, is accused of plotting to set off explosives in Manchester in April 2009.
He faces life in prison if convicted.
Three New York men — Adis Medunjanin, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay — already have been convicted of planning the subway-bombing portion of that plot. Medunjanin was sentenced to life in prison, and the other two are awaiting sentencing after cooperating with authorities.
Authorities said that in November 2008, Nasser traveled to Peshawar, Pakistan, where months before, the three New Yorkers had traveled and been recruited by al Qaeda.
After returning to Britain, Nasser, like Zazi, allegedly stayed in e-mail contact with an al Qaeda facilitator in Peshawar named “Ahmad.”
Brooklyn federal prosecutors said Nasser used coded language to refer to different types of explosives and wrote “Ahmad” that he was “planning a large ‘wedding’ for numerous guests between April 15 and 20, 2009.”
Prosecutors noted that evidence at Medunjanin’s trial last year revealed that Zazi used similar language with Ahmad, e-mailing him in September 2009 that “the marriage is ready” just before driving to New York.
Nasser and 11 other associates were arrested on April 8, 2009, in Britain, where authorities found large quantities of flour and oil, as well as surveillance photos of Manchester, in their homes.
He and the others later were released without charges.
But Nasser avoided being deported after a judge ruled he was likely to be mistreated if sent home. He was rearrested in mid-2010 at the request of US authorities.