FBI arrests man for attempting to bomb New York Federal Reserve
Thursday, October 18, 2012
FBI arrests man for attempting to bomb New York Federal
Reserve
By: Basil Katz and Jessica Dye, Reuters
The FBI on Wednesday arrested a Bangladeshi man in a sting
operation on charges he attempted to blow up the New York Federal
Reserve Bank with what he believed was a 1,000-pound (450-kg) bomb,
federal authorities said.
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, faces charges of
attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to
provide material support to al Qaeda, the U.S. Department of
Justice said in a statement. If convicted, he faces life in
prison.
The FBI said the public was not in danger because the explosives
provided to Nafis were never in working condition and the suspect
was closely monitored by the undercover agent - highlighting a
script law enforcement has employed several times this year in
similar cases, including one in Washington and another in Ohio.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama had
been briefed about the arrest.
"Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim
untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the
imagination can conjure," said Mary Galligan, FBI acting assistant
director-in-charge. "The defendant faces appropriately severe
consequences."
In an initial appearance in federal court in Brooklyn on
Wednesday, Nafis wore a plain brown crew-neck T-shirt, dark-colored
jeans and sneakers. He barely spoke during the brief hearing,
mumbling answers of "yes" to questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge
Roanne Mann.
According to the criminal complaint, Nafis traveled to the
United States in January 2012. Once in New York, he claimed to be
in contact with al Qaeda members overseas, although federal agents
found no evidence that he was working for al Qaeda or that he was
directed by the organization, according to a U.S. official who
declined to be named.
Nafis considered several targets for his attack, including the
New York Stock Exchange and a high-ranking government official,
whom the U.S. official identified as Obama.
In the end, the criminal complaint said, Nafis decided to focus
on the Federal Reserve Bank in lower Manhattan, which stands like a
limestone and sandstone fortress atop what is believed to be one of
the world's largest stockpiles of gold.
RECRUITS
To create a cell to help him carry out the bombing, Nafis began
to seek out recruits, eventually bringing on board an undercover
agent working for the FBI.
The two met on Wednesday morning and traveled by van to a New
York warehouse, where Nafis assembled what he thought was a 1,000
pound bomb, before driving to the Federal Reserve Bank, among the
most secure and guarded buildings in Manhattan.
After parking near the bank, Nafis walked to a nearby hotel and
recorded a video statement in which he said, "We will not stop
until we attain victory or martyrdom," according to the FBI.
Nafis was arrested in the hotel as he repeatedly attempted to
detonate the inert bomb, the FBI said.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, whose department was
part of the operation, objected to suggestions that Nafis' plans
were crude and bumbling.
"I don't see how you characterize (him as) unsophisticated, I
mean he was arrested, but he clearly had the intent to create
mayhem here," Kelly told reporters.
Other FBI sting operations this year have netted at least one
foreign suspect, as well as some from the United States.
In February, a 29-year-old Moroccan man was arrested near the
U.S. Capitol wearing a vest he believed was full of al
Qaeda-supplied explosives, and charged in an attempted suicide
bombing of Congress.
Five self-described anarchists in the Cleveland area were
arrested in May and accused of plotting to blow up a four-lane
highway bridge. An undercover FBI agent had sold the men inoperable
detonators and plastic explosives.