UPDATE: 4:00pm EST
More information has come forward on the suspect who planned to attack NYC Federal Reserve as it was revealed that he had been planning the attack for months, the DOJ said. Agents with the Joint Terrorism task Force closely monitored Nafis and the plot.
As reported by MyFoxNY:
Nafis came to the United States in January 2012 to recruit people to form a terrorist cell and to carry out an attack on U.S. soil, the DOJ said. He claimed to have ties to al-Qaeda and sought out al-Qadea contacts in America to help him plan the attack, authorities said.
He wrote a statement that he intended to release after the attack to claim responsibility, authorities said. In the statement, Nafis wrote that he wanted to “destroy America” by targeting its economy, the DOJ said. He also quoted from Osama bin Laden in justifying what he assumed with be the killing of women and children, federal officials said.
Authorities charged Nafis with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda Authorities said the public was never in any danger.
SOURCE: MYFoxNY
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Federal authorities busted a Long Island man after they thwarted his attempt to attack the Federal Reserve in New York City.
CBS News reports more specifically that the FBI has stopped a plot to detonate a massive bomb outside the Federal Reserve.
As reported by NBC News:
The man is in custody in New York. Sources tell NBC 4 New York that the suspect, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, lives in Jamaica, Queens.
Nafis, 21, was arrested Wednesday morning after he drove a van that he believed to be loaded with explosives from Long Island to Lower Manhattan. The man left the van near the Federal Reserve building and was then arrested by the FBI and NYPD.
Law enforcement officials stress that the plot was a sting operation monitored by the FBI and NYPD and the public was never at risk. The explosives had been rendered inoperable, officials said.
“Two of the defendant’s ‘accomplices’ were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent,” said FBI Acting Assistant Director Mary Galligan.
Sources say the suspect was acting alone.
Thankfully, the feds were on top of this guy before he caused the city to go into a panic.
SOURCE: NBC
