The father of Colorado terrorism suspect Najibullah Zazi is facing a new indictment in New York City alleging conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The indictment unsealed Monday says that in September, Mohammed Wali Zazi conspired with others to alter, destroy, mutilate and conceal glasses, masks, liquid chemicals and containers.
Zazi, 54, is accused of con spiring to destroy the items with the intent to obstruct a grand jury investigating federal crimes of terrorism.
“He’s calm, and he seems to understand what he is facing,” said his attorney, Edward Harris. “He intends, with the assistance of counsel in New York, to fight this case.”
The elder Zazi is already charged in U.S. District Court in Denver with lying to FBI agents who questioned him about his son’s activities.
Prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss that case on Monday in light of the new indictment in New York City.
Zazi was arrested in his home early Monday and appeared in custody in Denver for an initial hearing on the new indictment.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Watanabe read the charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice and read Zazi his rights translated through a Pashto interpreter.
Zazi waived an identity hearing, and the judge ordered U.S. marshals to take him to New York to answer to the indictment there.
Zazi could arrive in New York City in one to two weeks or earlier, Harris said.
If convicted, Zazi faces 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
His son, Najibullah Zazi, is accused of conspiring to make a weapon of mass destruction and is facing trial in New York City.
Prosecutors believe the younger Zazi learned to make bombs at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008 and that he traveled from his apartment in Aurora to New York on Sept. 9 and 10 to carry out a plan.
Surveillance video and receipts obtained by the FBI show Zazi purchased products at beauty-supply stores in the Denver area that contain components used to make hydrogen-peroxide explosives.
Investigators also believe that Zazi had rented an Aurora motel suite twice in an effort to cook some of the chemicals on a stove.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
