Beauty Store Bomber

Zazi Pleads Not Guilty

Afghan immigrant accused of bomb plot.

Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan immigrant accused by federal officials of orchestrating an al Qaeda plot to set off bombs in New York, pleaded not guilty to terrorism conspiracy charges in a Brooklyn court today. The 24-year-old was arrested in Denver on September 20 on charges that he lied about an alleged plot to build bombs from chemicals purchased at a beauty supply store. Zazi was flown to New York from Denver on Friday and investigators say he may have had three accomplices. Outside the courtroom, his lawyer said, “To use a hackneyed phrase, I’d like to stop this rush to judgment, because what I’ve seen so far does not amount to a conspiracy.”