DENVER, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Two men implicated in an alleged terror plot against New York were ordered held in federal custody during hearings Monday in two U.S. cities.
Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam in New York, appeared in a federal courtroom in New York and ordered held without bail until Thursday, Voice of America reported. In Denver, Najibullah Zazi and his father, Mohammed Wali, also appeared before a federal judge, who ordered Zazi to remain in custody while determining whether Wali could be released under house arrest on $50,000 bond and monitored electronically.
All three were charged with lying about a terror-related matter to federal investigators and could face up to eight years in prison if convicted, VOA said. Zazi and Afzali are U.S. residents and Wali is a U.S. citizen.
Court papers released Sunday in Denver indicated Zazi, 24, admitted to FBI interrogators that he received weapons and explosives training last year at an al-Qaida training camp in a tribal area of Pakistan, The New York Times reported.
A criminal complaint against the three men reportedly claims agents found images on a laptop computer and nine pages of handwritten notes that "contain formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fusing system."
The arrests, made Saturday, have shed little light on why the men were being watched or their alleged targets, the Times said. That the suspects were not charged with terror-related crimes could indicate they may have been arrested before developing details of their alleged plot, the newspaper said.
