NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of the ringleader of a thwarted plot to bomb the New York City subway system (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
A man who plotted to bomb New York City’s subways and then switched sides and helped the U.S. prosecute terrorists after his arrest has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Admitted al-Qaida recruit Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO’-lah ZAH’-zee) had faced the possibility of life in prison when he was sentenced Thursday.
But federal prosecutors say that, after his arrest in 2009, Zazi provided “extraordinary” assistance to U.S. counterterrorism authorities.
Zazi testified against other al-Qaida operates and gave information to U.S. investigators.
The naturalized U.S. citizen acknowledged in a 2010 guilty plea that he and two friends planned rush-hour suicide bombings on subway lines around the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The 10-year prison term means Zazi could be released from prison soon. He has been in custody for a decade.
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5:35 a.m.
The ringleader of a thwarted terror plot to bomb the New York City subways in 2009 is about to be sentenced after nearly a decade of helping federal authorities fight terrorism.
Admitted al-Qaida recruit Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO’-lah ZAH’-zee) acknowledged in a 2010 guilty plea that he and two friends agreed to travel to Pakistan, where al-Qaida operatives directed him to stage an attack on U.S. soil.
The mission called for rush-hour suicide bombings on subway lines, timed to occur during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The Afghan immigrant’s cooperation could earn him a far lighter punishment on charges that carry a maximum of life. He’s to be sentenced Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn.
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