NEW YORK CITY (WNBC) – The ringleader of a thwarted plot to bomb the New York City subway system in 2009 was sentenced to time served Thursday.
Najibullah Zazi was sentenced to 10 years behind bars in his long-delayed sentencing. But he’s been detained in federal custody since pleading guilty to terror charges in 2010.
Judge Raymond Dearie sentenced Zazi to “time served” in what he called “one unthinkable second chance.”
Al-Qaeda recruited Zazi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and two others to carry out a “martyrdom operation” on U.S. Soil in 2008.
The mission called for rush-hour suicide bombings on subway lines, timed to occur during Ramadan and the eighth anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks.
The plot was foiled by federal authorities.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for Zazi to spend the rest of his life behind bars but prosecutors credited Zazi for his extraordinary assistance to authorities over the past nine years, implicating his two best friends and providing other critical intelligence.
“Mr. Zazi, who I met a long time ago, almost ten years ago, who was a young, young man, has changed dramatically and I’ve witnessed that transformation over the past approximate ten years,” said Zazi’s lawyer, William Stampur. “I think justice has been served because, as Judge Dearie, and as I indicated, and as the government indicated when he was initially arrested and after a very short period of time, he started that transformation, which was extraordinary.”
No word as to when Zazi will be released, but his attorney is optimistic it will be within a week.
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