NEW YORK — A senior New York Police Department commander has been transferred amid questions about the handling of a police source accused of tipping off terror suspect Najibullah Zazi that he was under surveillance, an official confirmed Thursday.
Police and city officials have refused to discuss the removal of Inspector Paul Ciorra from the NYPD’s Intelligence Division, first reported Thursday in The New York Times.
Ciorra’s division reportedly sought information about Zazi and others from an imam in the Queens neighborhood where Zazi once lived. The next day the imam, Ahmad Wais Afzali, telephoned Zazi, telling him, “They asked about you guys.”
Through the recorded conversation, the FBI learned that Zazi “learned directly that the law enforcement officers were tracking his activities,” federal prosecutor Jeffrey Knox wrote in court papers.
Afzali, who was released Thursday on bail, has denied any wrongdoing. The Associated Press
