Father of Colo. airport driver accused in NYC terror plot to be released on bail

Father of NY terror plot suspect gets bail

NEW YORK — A Colorado man accused of trying to destroy chemicals and other evidence in the terror case against his son was granted bail Wednesday, but ordered not to speak to his son.

As part of a deal reached in federal court in Brooklyn, Mohammed Wali Zazi must post $50,000 bond signed by his wife and daughter and secured by $20,000 cash. He also will be subject to electronic monitoring when he returns to his home in suburban Denver, possibly as early as Friday.

The judge also barred the one-time New York City cab driver from having phone or other contact with four people — his jailed son, Najibullah Zazi, and three whose names were not made public.

Both Zazis have pleaded not guilty.

The father “intends to fight the case and we’d ask the public to withhold judgment until the facts are revealed,” his attorney, Deborah Colson, told reporters outside court.

The government alleges Najibullah Zazi, who was an airport shuttle driver, and others bought beauty supplies in Colorado to make peroxide-based bombs and that he tried to mix the explosives in a hotel room there. Last fall, he drove to New York, where investigators say they lifted notes on bomb-making from his computer.

Authorities have said they believe the son, who remains in custody in New York following his arrest in September, wanted to attack the city’s transit system. At the time of the arrest, Attorney General Eric Holder called the terrorism case the most serious since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

FBI agents arrested Zazi’s father on obstruction charges, alleging he conspired with others to destroy or hide “glasses, masks, liquid chemicals and containers” that were evidence in the case.

Two New Yorkers have also been charged but were not directly linked to the foiled bomb plot. Authorities have said the two, Adis Medunjanin and Zarein Ahmedzay, traveled to Pakistan, where Zazi allegedly received training in explosives from al-Qaida.

Ahmedzay, Medunjanin and Najibullah Zazi are former high school classmates in Queens. They have denied wrongdoing.

(This version CORRECTS day to Wednesday.)