DENVER—A man identified by law enforcement as having a possible link to al-Qaida arrived at the FBI’s Denver office on Thursday for a second round of questioning.
Najibullah Zazi didn’t speak to reporters, but his attorney, Arthur Folsom, said he did not expect his client to be arrested. If agents intended to jail Zazi, they probably would have done so already, he said.
Folsom said Zazi has never met with al-Qaida operatives and isn’t involved in terrorism.
“He’s simply somebody who was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Folsom said.
Agents questioned Zazi for hours on Wednesday and searched his apartment and the home of his aunt and uncle, both in the east Denver suburb of Aurora.
Folsom said FBI agents were cordial and asked detailed questions during the Wednesday session. He declined to give specifics.
He said Zazi is observing the traditional daylight fast for Ramadan, and that the FBI gave him food after sunset Wednesday.
Folsom and Zazi met at Folsom’s office for about 90 minutes Thursday before the two left to return to the FBI office.
Folsom says Zazi, 24, was born in Afghanistan in 1985, moved to Pakistan at age 7 and emigrated to the United States in 1999. Zazi’s aunt had said earlier that he was born in Pakistan and grew up in Queens, N.Y.
Folsom said Zazi has returned to Pakistan four times in recent years: in 2004 because his grandfather was sick and dying, in 2006 to get married and in 2007 and 2008 to visit his wife.
Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday that a joint FBI-New York Police Department task force had put Zazi under surveillance because of suspected links to al-Qaida.
The task force also feared Zazi may be involved in a potential plot involving homemade hydrogen peroxide-based explosives like those cited in an intelligence warning issued Monday, said the officials, who spoke on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the investigation.
After Zazi traveled to New York City over the weekend, FBI agents and police officers armed with search warrants seeking bomb materials searched three apartments and questioned residents in a predominantly Asian neighborhood in Queens.
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Associated Press Writers Steven K. Paulson, P. Solomon Banda and Colleen Slevin contributed to this report.
