by William M. Reilly

    NEW YORK, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Alleged international bomb-maker Najibullah Zazi pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to plotting a bombing attack in the United States.

    The not guilty plea in a New York federal courtroom on Tuesday by the Afghan immigrant was just his first court appearance in what promises to be a long judicial process which he will experience from behind bars, held without bail.

    Then, if convicted of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, the 24-year old man faces life in prison.

    There have been unconfirmed reports the landmark Grand Central Terminal in New York had been targeted.

    However, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holdder said at the time the indictment was announced that "we believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted."

    Prosecutors alleged that Zazi took a bomb-making course at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan, returned to New York City in January where he had been running a coffee and donuts cart in the Wall Street area, but headed west days later.

    Zazi went to the foothills of the Great Rocky Mountains, but drove back about nine months later to New York City on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

    Apparently alarmed at being the subject of surveillance, he returned on Sept. 12 to the U.S. state of Colorado, where he worked as a shuttle bus driver at Denver's airport.

    It was in Aurora, Colorado, that he was arrested on Sept. 17 with his father and an imam for lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    He was charged with the bomb-making conspiracy charge and was brought to New York.

    The alleged plot raises considerable concern because Zazi has been living legally in the United States, most of the time with his parents. He immigrated with his family 12 years ago and went to high school in New York.

    However, in 2006 he got married in Pakistan, where his wife and two children live, according to court papers.

    Prosecutors say they know who worked with Zazi in the plot. But no additional arrests have been announced.

    Zazi's attorney Michael Dowling said Tuesday that the government would have to name other suspects or the conspiracy charge would not stick.

    The indictment was announced last Thursday. In an accompanying detention memo asking the suspect to be held without bail, some details were revealed about the case, which began to become public with early morning raids on some apartments in Queens, New York, on Sept. 14. Zazi stayed in one of the apartments when he last visited New York.

    Since the memo begins by citing reports of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, it is believed Zazi appeared on the radar of investigators when he left for Pakistan with thus-far unidentified "others" in 2008.

    The 12-page document says searches of email accounts turned up images of "nine pages of handwritten notes containing formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of different kinds of explosives" emailed while Zazi was in Pakistan.

    "The notes contain specifications for, among other explosives, the explosive Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), which is the explosive used in the 2005 London train bombings," the document said.

    According to the memo, there was evidence of Zazi and unidentified others buying such supplies in Colorado and using the Internet to seek additional bomb-making products and information.

    It also said residue from some of the chemicals was found in a vent over a stove in a hotel room suite Zazi had rented in Colorado where he allegedly cooked the products to make them more concentrated and more effective.