United States federal authorities arrested two more men on Friday in connection to an alleged bomb plot targeting public transportation in New York City, bringing the total number of suspects held in the case to five.
Adis Medunjanin, 25, and Zasrein Ahmedzay, 24, were detained early Friday morning by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York as part of an "ongoing investigation," the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) said in a statement.
Investigators say the two men are connected to a Colorado taxi driver, Najibullah Zazi, who reportedly trained at an al-Qaida terrorist camp and is believed to be the mastermind of a plot to bomb New York. He is currently being held in jail without bail on charges of conspiring with others to use beauty products to make bombs that were planned to go off in New York.
In Brooklyn Federal Court on Friday afternoon, Ahmedzay pleaded not guilty to lying to federal investigators, according to local media reports.
A new indictment charges Ahmedzay, an Afghan-born taxi driver, with a single count of making material false statements.
Ahmedzay allegedly failed to mention all the places he had visited in Pakistan and Afghanistan while there in late 2008 and early 2009 and lied
when he denied having discussions about attending a military camp to receive training.
Medunjanin, a Bosnian-born building superintendent, will be arraigned on Saturday. The charges against him are still unclear.
On Thursday, authorities searched Medunjanin's home and took his passport, prompting him to jump in his car and take off through the streets
of New York. He then crashed his car on the Whitestone Expressway and had to be taken to a Queens hospital for minor injuries. It wasn't until the early hours of Friday when he was turned over to federal authorities, according to local media reports.
There was no chase, said the FBI, adding that Medunjanin was under surveillance.