A 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, in the U.S. on a student visa, was allegedly planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was detained on Wednesday after an attempt to set off the bomb, according to CNN.
Nafis was motivated by al Qaeda and came to the U.S. stating he was going to attend school in Missouri so that he could carry out an attack on U.S. soil and recruit members.
Nafis stated the plot was on his own and that was his reason for coming to the U.S. It is unclear at the moment if he had official al Qaeda ties.
Nafis had contacted an undercover FBI source unknowingly and told the source multiple targets. He stated he wanted to destroy America and he would do so by going after financial institutions in the country.
The undercover agent provided 20, 50 pound bags each of purported explosives to Nafis. He also had a back-up plan in case of police interruption that consisted of him carrying out a suicide attack.
He packed the van he was traveling in and went to Manhattans financial district. He attached the detonator to the bags and recorded a video statement in a hotel.
“We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom,” he allegedly said in the video.
According to NBC News, Nafis was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda.
U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch stated, “The defendant came to this country intent on conducting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and worked with single-minded determination to carry out his plan. The defendant thought he was striking a blow to the American economy. He thought he was directing confederates and fellow believers. At every turn, he was wrong, and his extensive efforts to strike at the heart of the nation’s financial system were foiled by effective law enforcement.”
