Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
A Bangladeshi man is accused of assembling what he thought was a 1,000 pound bomb and trying to detonate it to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Reuters reports.
The FBI said Wednesday that Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis drove the devise to the bank and walked back to his hotel, where he recorded a video statement, saying, “We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom.”
Authorities arrested Nafis as he repeatedly tried to detonate the bomb, which the FBI assured was never in working condition, Reuters reported.
‘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.”
The FBI employed a tactic it has used in the past: Befriend a would-be terrorist and provide him with fake equipment to see if he will go through with an attack, according to Reuters.
The FBI said Nafis traveled to the U.S. in January 2012 and claimed to have been in contact with al Qaeda, a claim that agents could not substantiate.
Nafis considered several targets, including President Obama, before deciding on the bank building, which is one of the most secure and guarded in the country, authorities said.
