Terror Probe Comprimised?

[nastyleg]

Is the terror probe comprimised?

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=9942429&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/us/index.html

[nastyleg]

Complaint suggests NYPD misstepped in terror probe
Sept. 22, 2009 in New York.
Writers Tom Hays And Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 21 mins ago
NEW YORK – Police acting without the FBI's knowledge might have inadvertently helped blow the surveillance of a terrorism suspect and compromised a bomb plot investigation at a sensitive stage by questioning an imam about him, a criminal complaint suggests.

"They came to ask me about your characters," the Muslim religious leader, Ahmad Wais Afzali, told Najibullah Zazi in a secretly recorded Sept. 11 telephone conversation. "They asked me about you guys."

At least one of those New York Police Department detectives, referred to in the recently unsealed criminal complaint, works for a division that operates independently from an FBI-run terrorism task force.

Zazi, a 24-year-old Denver airport shuttle driver, his father and Afzali were charged last weekend with lying to the FBI in a probe of a possible al-Qaida plot to detonate homemade explosives. Authorities say they found bomb-making instructions on a hard drive on Zazi's laptop but knew of no specific time or place for a possible attack.

The arrests came after a series of high-profile raids of several city apartments in a neighborhood where Zazi had recently visited, and were followed by an intense flurry of nationwide warnings of possible strikes on transit, sports and entertainment complexes.

A criminal complaint suggests that the NYPD and FBI might have tipped off Zazi even before the imam's call by towing and searching a rental car he was using on his trip to New York City. The maneuver, authorities say, produced evidence of the bomb-making instructions on his laptop.

In the phone conversation with Afzali, Zazi said the car's disappearance convinced him he was being watched.

NYPD and FBI officials have denied that the potential missteps forced their hand in last week's raids, prompted Zazi to abort his New York visit and caused friction between the two agencies, which work together through the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, asked Tuesday whether he had any concerns about the handling of Afzali, declined to comment on the investigation beyond what was in court papers, saying the probe was classified.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne insisted the NYPD and the FBI "worked closely and successfully in this case and in scores of others." He declined further comment.

Zazi's arrest in Colorado touched off several national terrorism warnings and advisories, with authorities cautioning transit systems, sports stadiums, hotels and entertainment complexes to be vigilant as investigators search for more suspects in a possible al-Qaida plot to set off hydrogen-peroxide bombs.

Law enforcement officials said Zazi might have been plotting with others to detonate backpack bombs on New York trains in a scheme similar to the attacks on the London subway and Madrid's rail system in the last few years. Backpacks and cell phones were seized in raids on apartments Zazi visited in New York.

In a statement, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security said that while the agencies "have no information regarding the timing, location or target of any planned attack, we believe it is prudent to raise the security awareness of our local law enforcement partners regarding the targets and tactics of previous terrorist activity."

Afzali's attorney, Ron Kuby, has said his client had a history of giving police information as a community liaison and religious leader in his Queens neighborhood. Kuby claimed Afzali was doing their bidding by talking to Zazi and finding out what he was up to.

"My client is being blamed for an investigation botched by the authorities," Kuby said Tuesday. "It's much easier to blame some obscure Afghan imam."

A criminal complaint says NYPD detectives first visited Afzali at his home on Sept. 10.

Around that time, the public was unaware that federal authorities were tracking a suburban Denver man with possible links to al-Qaida who had driven to New York City — Zazi. The complaint says that unnamed detectives showed Afzali photos of Zazi and that Afzali admitted he recognized him.

Kuby said one of the detectives was his client's usual police contact, an investigator assigned to the police department's Intelligence Division, not the terrorism task force.

The day after police spoke to Afzali, the FBI intercepted his phone call with Zazi discussing the NYPD's inquiry. The next day, Afzali's lawyer said, his client had his first-ever contact with the FBI, when he agreed to answer questions at their Manhattan headquarters.

On Sept. 14, Afzali also agreed to a search of his home, then gave DNA samples and a written statement on Sept. 17, the attorney said.

Afzali was arrested on Sunday on charges he lied in the statement by denying that he had tipped off Zazi.

___

Barrett reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_nyc_terror