The Knight News - Former QC Students Arrested in Terror Plot

Former QC Students Arrested in Terror Plot

By Jesse Leon

Staff Writer
Published: Friday, February 5, 2010

Months after Najibullah Zazi's arrest for suspected terrorist activity, two former Queens College students were arrested in connection to his plot, reported “The Queens Courier.”

Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay were brought up on charges related to Zazi’s alleged terrorist activities.

Medunjanin, a U.S. citizen from Bosnia who graduated Queens College in June, was charged on Saturday, Jan. 9, with conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country and receiving training from a terrorist organization.

Ahmedzay, an Afghan who attended QC between spring 2005 and fall 2009, was charged a day earlier for allegedly lying to federal agents.

Both pleaded not guilty.

Mendujanin earned his bachelor’s degree in economics at QC, according to YourNabe.com, and Ahmedzay took classes but did not graduate. Mendujanin, Ahmedzay and Zazi were all former students of Flushing High School.

Investigators had kept a close watch on Medunjanin and Ahmedzay since Zazi’s arrest for terrorism-conspiracy charges in September, reported “The New York Times.”

On Thursday, Jan. 7, two FBI. agents appeared at 25-year-old Medunjanin’s door with a search warrant for his passport. Medunjanin voluntarily handed over his passport and then fled his apartment in his car, followed by F.B.I. agents, according to “The Times.”

Medunjanin crashed his car near the Whitestone Bridge, where authorities captured him and brought him to the hospital to treat minor injuries, after which he was interrogated.

24-year-old Ahmedzay was picked up in his taxi in Manhattan around midnight and questioned.

Zazi was arrested and charged in September with attempting to use weapons of mass destruction. Zazis’ arrest was sparked by his drive to New York City from Denver, Colorado in a rental car, reported “The Times.”

Zazi admitted to investigators that he received training from al-Qaeda in weapons and explosives during a 2008 trip to Pakistan. Zazi denied that he was involved in a bomb plot, and plead not guilty to the charges against him, reported the “Courier.”

The pair’s apartments were searched in the days leading up to Zazi’s arrest in September, and authorities are saying the two flew with Zazi from Newark Liberty International Airport to Peshawar, Pakistan, to receive training from al-Qaeda, said the “Courier.”

If Medunjanin is convicted, he faces a sentence of 35 years to life, and Ahmedzay faces a possible eight years for allegedly lying to investigators.

The Knight News - Former QC Students Arrested in Terror Plot