NEW YORK, July 22 (UPI) -- The father of the confessed subway bomb plotter was found guilty in New York Friday of trying to derail the investigation.
In Brooklyn, the jury found Mohammed Wali Zazi, father of convicted terrorist Najibullah Zazi, guilty of destroying bomb-making materials and conspiring to obstruct the federal investigation into Najibullah's and his co-conspirators' terrorist plot to attack the New York City subway system.
The U.S. Justice Department said a grand jury investigation showed Najibullah had sent e-mail messages to a contact in Pakistan for bomb ingredients, and then rented a car in Denver and driven toward New York City.
On Sept. 11, 2009, Najibullah was in New York City, and the FBI conducted a covert search of his car, discovering handwritten bomb-making notes, the department said. On the same day, a Queens imam, who had been asked by authorities for information about Najibullah, tipped off Najibullah and his father about the investigation. Najibullah then returned to his home in Colorado.
After Najibullah returned to Colorado, his family, led by his father, attempted to derail the federal investigation by lying to the FBI when asked about his relationship with the Queens imam and other things, the department said.
The father directed family members to destroy Najibullah's chemicals and other bomb-making materials so that the FBI would not find them, the department said.
Walid Zazi is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 2, when he will face up to 20 years on each of the two counts. Walid Zazi is the third suspect convicted in the obstruction case.
Najibullah, who earlier pleaded guilty in the bombing plot, was scheduled to be sentenced next week.
