On Friday, one of the seven defendants in the plot to conduct coordinated suicide-bombings in the New York subway system was sentenced for his part in the plot.

34-year-old Queens resident Adis Medunjanin who joined al-Qaeda then plotted and attempted to commit suicide bombings was sentenced to life in prison in New York on Friday.

Medunjanin and his accomplices came within days of carrying out the subway attacks in 2009 that were directed by senior al-qaeda leaders in Pakistan. When the plot went south, Medunjanin attempted to crash his vehicle on the Whitestone Expressway in an effort to kill himself and others.

In 2008, Medunjanin and his co-plotters, Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay, agreed to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban and kill United States military personnel abroad. They arrived in Peshawar, Pakistan, in late August 2008, but Medunjanin and Ahmedzay were turned back at the Afghanistan border. Within days, Medunjanin, Zazi and Ahmedzay met with an al-Qaeda facilitator in Peshawar and agreed to travel to Waziristan for terrorist training. There, they met with al-Qaeda leaders Saleh al-Somali, then the head of al-Qaeda external operations, and Rashid Rauf, a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative, who explained that the three would be more useful to al-Qaeda and the jihad by returning to New York and conducting terrorist attacks.

While receiving weapons training in Waziristan, Medunjanin, Zazi, and Ahmedzay were encouraged to return to the United States and conduct martyrdom operations in New York. They agreed and possible targets discussed were Manhattan, Grand Central Station, the subway system, the New York Stock Exchange, and various movie theatres.

The three plotters returned to the United States and began their planning, they decided to carry out their three coordinated suicide-bombings during the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. That holiday fell in late August and September of 2009. Just before that period, in July and August, Zazi bought large quantities of chemicals needed to produce TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide), which he mixed in a hotel room near Denver on two occasions. This was known because of the FBI investigation that found the bomb-making residue in the hotel room.

Zazi left Denver and traveled to New York with the materials and operational detonator explosives needed to build the suicide bombs. It was not long after Zazi arrived in New York, that he found that law enforcement knew of the plot and were moving to arrest his group. The men discarded all their materials including the explosives and left the city. Zazi went back to Denver where he was arrested on September 19th.

A search warrant was issued and executed on Medunjanin’s apartment on January 7th of 2010. After the search warrant was executed, Medunjanin left his apartment and decided to crash his vehicle into another car at high speed in an attempt to carry out an act of terrorism. Just before impact, Medunjanin called 911 and stated, ” We love death more than you love your life.”

In May of this year, Medunjaniin was convicted of several counts that included conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder of U.S. personnel abroad, providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaeda, receiving military training from al-Qaeda, conspiring and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundries, and using explosives in relation to these offenses.

“Adis Medunjanin was today held accountable for his role in one of the most serious terrorist plots against the homeland since 9/11. Were it not for the combined efforts of the law enforcement and intelligence communities, the suicide bomb attacks that he and others planned would have been devastating,” said Assistant Attorney General Monaco. “I thank the many agents, analysts and prosecutors who helped bring about today’s result.”