The F.B.I. captured a man who was carrying explosives headed to Washington D.C.
STORY: Meet Rezwan Ferdaus, The Man That Tried To Blow Up The Pentagon
According to Fox News, authorities believe the man was on his way to the U.S. Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation’s most symbolic landmarks.
The unidentified man, who is in his 30s and of Moroccan descent, was nabbed following a lengthy investigation by the FBI, initiated after he expressed interest in conducting an attack.
Fox News also reported that the man thought undercover FBI agents assisting him in his plot were associates of al-Qaeda.
When he was arrested Friday in Washington, he was carrying a vest supposedly packed with explosives, but the material inside was not actually dangerous.
A short time earlier, he had been praying at a mosque in the Washington area. His destination was Capitol Hill.
The public was never in danger, as he had been under constant surveillance for some time, said authorities.
This isn’t the first time an attack on the Capitol was thwarted. In September, a Massachusetts man was arrested for allegedly plotting to fly bomb-laden model planes into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.
FBI agents claiming to be associates of al-Qaeda provided 26-year-old Rezwan Ferdaus with what he thought was explosive material for the remote-controlled planes.
