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| Alleged Fed bomb plotter to plead guilty |
| 2013-02-07 |
| A 21-year-old Bangladeshi man who allegedly planned to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb is expected to plead guilty Thursday, federal prosecutors said. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis had been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida. He was arrested during a sting operation Oct. 17 and is expected to make his plea during a noon court appearance in New York, according to a statement from the Justice Department. It's not clear whether Nafis actually maintained al-Qaida ties, and his attorney could not be immediately reached for comment. One of the people Nafis apparently contacted was an FBI source to whom he proposed multiple targets, including a high-ranking U.S. official as well as the New York Stock Exchange, authorities said in a statement released after his arrest. The undercover agent, they say, also provided bags of inert explosives to Nafis, who then stored the material in a warehouse in preparation for the strike. They say Nafis further divulged a "Plan B" that involved carrying out a suicide attack should police thwart his efforts. Packing his van with what he apparently believed were explosives, Nafis then allegedly traveled with the undercover agent to Manhattan's financial district, attached a detonator to the material and recorded a video statement in a nearby hotel. His arrest was the "culmination of an undercover operation" after he was being monitored by NYPD detectives and the FBI New York Field Office's Joint Terrorism Task Force. |
| Posted by:tipper |