Critical testimony is expected Tuesday in the trial of a Queens man accused of plotting an attack on the New York City subway system.
Najibullah Zazi, the man prosecutors say admitted to being the mastermind of the plot, is set to take the stand in the trial of Adis Medunjanin.
Prosecutors say Medunjanin, Zazi and another man, Zareim Ahmedzay, planned a bombing on the eighth anniversary of 9/11. The trio, who all went to Flushing High School, were arrested before the plot could be carried out in 2009.
On Monday, Ahmedzay took the stand and told jurors Medunjanin was a willing participant in the plot to set off bombs in the subways.
“He has agreed to be one of the suicide bombers,” Ahmedzay testified. “He said he loved death more than he loved life.”
Ahmedzay said the three men went to an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan.
Prosecutors said they discussed potential targets like Times Square, Grand Central Terminal and the New York Stock Exchange before finally settling on a suicide mission underground.
The three planned to wear vests packed with explosives and detonate them during rush hour, said prosecutors.
Prosecutors read aloud an email from Zazi to an al-Qaeda operative that said “the marriage is ready.” Those chilling code words meant the bomb was built and the attack was imminent, officials said.
The attack was planned for September of 2009 and prosecutors say it was fully operational and just days away from being carried out before the men were stopped.
Ahmedzay told jurors the plot was foiled when Zazi realized authorities were onto him and the suicide mission was scrapped.
Prosecutors said Medunjanin then tried to crash his car in a fiery explosion on the Whitestone Expressway in a last-ditch effort to carry out an attack on U.S. soil.
(Source: WCBSTV)