FBI searches home of Denver terror suspect

DENVER - A man at the center of a terror plot investigation has arrived for his second meeting with FBI agents in as many days.

Wednesday, the FBI evacuated two apartment buildings "for safety reasons" as they searched the home of terror suspect Najibullah Zazi. They also raided another home not far away that belongs to members of Zazi's family.

All this was happening as Zazi, 24, was meeting with FBI agents at Denver's FBI headquarters. Zazi met with investigators from 2 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday. He returned for another meeting around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Denver NBC affiliate KUSA learned he agreed to give investigators, fingerprints, DNA and handwriting samples.

"There were a significant number of questions about individuals in New York, what his relationship is with each of them, how long he's known them and where he met them. We spent time talking about what went on while in New York and what he saw, who he talked to, times, dates and places, his reason for going there," Zazi's attorney, Arthur Folsom, told 9Wants to Know Wednesday night about the first meeting.

Tuesday, Zazi told KUSA in his first interview with the media that he's not a terrorist and the FBI has the wrong man.

Zazi's name surfaced after federal sources told WNBC-TV in New York agents had been monitoring the Arapahoe County man after he drove a rental car to New York.

Federal officials stepped up their investigation after Zazi rented the car Sept. 9 in Colorado and drove to New York. He told the Denver Post he was traveling there to deal with an issue over a coffee cart that his family owns in Manhattan. While he was in New York, police stopped him on a bridge leading into the city and searched the rental car and his laptop computer. Police later towed his car, and Zazi said he suspected he was being watched.

FBI agents executed search warrants at an apartment in Queens, New York on Monday as part of the investigation. NBC News has learned they seized nine backpacks in the raid.

Zazi flew back to Colorado and learned about the raids in Queens after friends called him.

Zazi told 9Wants to Know he went to New York recently to visit friends. Zazi says anyone who thinks he's done something illegal is wrong.

Zazi lives in the Vistas at Saddle Rock near East Smoky Hill Road and South Versailles.

Around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, the FBI evacuated the apartment buildings around Zazi's unit. Three people, two women and one man, were taken out of Zazi's apartment. They were not handcuffed. The two women were in traditional Muslim dress. The three left in a government vehicle with FBI agents.

The evacuations were lifted a little more than an hour later.

FBI investigators in protective suits were in Zazi's apartment along with dogs during the search.

The FBI also served a search warrant at a house on East Ontario Drive not far from South Tallyns Reach Parkway on Wednesday afternoon.

No evacuations were ordered there. FBI agents in protective suits were on scene. Neighbors say they saw investigators taking items out of the home and dusting things inside the home.

According to the Post, the home belongs to Zazi's aunt and uncle, Naquib Jaji. At Jaji's house, according to the Post, neighbors gathered in front of the home as authorities worked beneath a fly tent wrapped in blue tarps. Eight children were put in a red van and led away.

Jaji said Tuesday that Zazi lived at the house briefly before moving to the apartment on Smoky Hill Road.

According to NBC News, federal officials have had Zazi under surveillance for quite some time.

NBC News reports that authorities found documents in Zazi's rented car that contained explosive formulas. Investigators in Colorado are now checking to see whether he recently bought any ingredients.

No charges have been filed.

Zazi has not been arrested. Three others interviewed during the raids in Queens on Monday in several residences as part of the terrorist investigation were not arrested either.

Zazi works at ABC Shuttle in Aurora. It operates at Denver International Airport.

Recently, the FBI and Homeland Security asked local police departments nationwide, including Denver, to be on the lookout for materials that could be used to make explosives and for people with burn marks on their hands, faces or arms, according to WNBC-TV.

Bruce Finley, Tom McGhee and Kevin Vaughan of the Denver Post contributed to this story.

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