NEW YORK — A terror suspect on trial in New York was among several young recruits under orders by Al Qaeda to infiltrate Western society and pull off the biggest operation since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a prosecutor said Tuesday in opening statements.
Assistant US Attorney Celia Cohen told jurors in federal court in Brooklyn that the failed conspiracy in 2009 called for attacks in New York City, England, and Denmark. She said 28-year-old Abid Naseer, who is acting as his own lawyer, headed a cell in Manchester, England, where he attended college as part of his cover and communicated in coded e-mails with his Al Qaeda handler about the cell’s plan to attack a shopping mall.
The jury will be the first to see evidence seized during the Navy SEAL raid in 2011 that left Osama bin Laden dead, Cohen said.