Najibullah Zazi, the Denver man believed to be the central figure in a terror plot against the New York City transit system, has officially been indicted on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States, CBS 2 reports.

According to the Department of Justice, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned a one-count indictment alleging that between Aug. 1, 2008 and Sept. 21, 2009, Zazi knowingly and intentionally conspired with others to use one or more weapons of mass destruction, specifically explosive bombs and other similar explosive devices, against persons or property within the United States. The indictment also alleges that Zazi and others traveled in interstate and foreign commerce, used email and the Internet, and that this offense and the results of the offense would have affected interstate and foreign commerce.

Authorities plan to transfer him to the federal court in Brooklyn to face the new charge. If convicted, Zazi faces up to life in prison.

“The indictment alleges that Najibullah Zazi conspired with others to use explosive devices against persons or property in the United States,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “We are investigating a wide range of leads related to this alleged conspiracy, and we will continue to work around the clock to ensure that anyone involved is brought to justice,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.
 
“We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted, but as always, we remind the American public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement,” he added.

Casting a wide net in a neighborhood where high-profile raids prompted nationwide terror warnings, investigators searched for anyone who might have been behind the alleged terror plot beyond Zazi, an airport shuttle driver, and two others, authorities said.

Zazi, his father and New York City imam Ahmad Wais Afzali were all scheduled to be in court for detention hearings later Thursday in Denver and New York. Authorities say they found bomb-making instructions on a hard drive on Zazi’s laptop computer but still were unsure of the specific target or scope of a possible terrorist attack.

The 24-year-old Zazi — whom authorities have linked to al-Qaeda — his father and Afzali have already been charged with lying to FBI investigators trying to uncover the terror plot. Zazi met with his attorneys in Colorado on Wednesday. His father, Mohammed Zazi, was expected to be freed on $50,000 bail after Thursday’s hearing.

The arrests came after the raids of several apartments in the Queens neighborhood, where Zazi had driven from Denver to visit earlier this month, and were followed by a flurry of nationwide warnings of possible strikes on transit, sports and entertainment complexes.

On Wednesday, hundreds of federal agents and NYPD investigators again fanned out in the neighborhood where apartments were searched — and backpacks and cell phones removed — over a week ago, to re-interview “people previously encountered” during previous raids there, and to locate others who know them, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the probe.

(Source: WCBSTV)