Suspect Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack NY Fed
Federal officials have arrested a suspect that they say was plotting to attack the Federal Reserve's building in New York City, according to a report from NBC 4 News.
Officials arrested Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, a 21 year old Bangladeshi national, in downtown New York and charged him with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda.
Law-enforcement officials said that the plot was a sting operation monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department, and that the public was never at risk.
According to a report issued by federal officials, Nafis drove a van he believed to be loaded with a 1, 000-pound bomb from Long Island to Lower Manhattan. He then placed the van near the Federal Reserve and was then arrested by the FBI and NYPD.
"It is important to emphasize that the public was never at risk in this case, because two of the defendant's 'accomplices' were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent, " said Mary Galligan, the N.Y. Fed's acting assitant director. "The FBI continues to place the highest priority on preventing acts of terrorism."
Nafis came to the U.S. earlier this year on a student visa, and lives in Jamaica Queens section of New York City, said the report.
Officals say he was acting alone but apparently did try to recruit other al Qaeda contacts, one of whom turned out to be an undercover FBI agent. That undercover agent offered to supply him with what he thought were explosives.
Nafis told that agent that he hoped the attack would disrupt the U.S. presidential election, according to the criminal complaint against him.
"You know what, this election might even stop, " he is quoted as saying in the criminal complaint.