And surpass it in mayhem. “Bomb plot suspect ordered to NY to face charge,” by Robert Boczkiewicz for Reuters, September 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):
DENVER, Sept 25 (Reuters) – An immigrant from Afghanistan who was arrested in a federal anti-terrorism investigation was ordered on Friday to be moved to New York to face a charge of plotting bomb attacks in the United States.
Najibullah Zazi, 24, a shuttle bus driver at Denver’s airport who has been linked by authorities to al Qaeda, is accused of receiving bomb-making instructions during a trip to Pakistan last year, then buying and preparing chemicals for use in home-made explosives like those in the 2005 London subway and bus bombings.
A grand jury in New York has charged Zazi, a legal U.S. resident born in Afghanistan, under federal anti-terrorism laws with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, an offense outlined in an indictment unsealed on Thursday. He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Law enforcement experts have called the alleged conspiracy, if proven, one of the most significant security threats in the United States since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The investigation came to light earlier this month after Zazi drove across the country from Colorado, arriving in New York City on Sept. 10 in a rental car in which authorities say he carried a laptop computer with bomb-making notes.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Neff, arguing in court that Zazi would remain in custody, said the evidence shows “a chilling, disturbing sequence of events that indicate the defendant was intent on making a bomb and being in New York on 9/11, perhaps using such items.”…