‘Al Qaeda’ bomb plot foiled in heart of New York
A SUSPECTED Al Qaeda terrorist plotting to blow up the US Federal Reserve was under arrest last night after being trapped in an FBI sting.
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, parked a truck packed with what he thought was 1,000lb of explosives outside the building in Manhattan and attempted to detonate them with his mobile phone.
But the explosives were not real. Nafis had been tracked by the FBI for some time and was supplied with the fake bomb by undercover agents.
He allegedly told investigators that he wanted to ‘destroy America’ by wiping out the central bank’s building – just streets from the 9/11 Ground Zero site – dealing a hammer blow to the ailing US economy.
Nafis, a Bangladeshi national, allegedly came to the US in January with the specific aim of engaging in terrorism.
He had several targets in mind including a ‘highranking US official and the New York Stock Exchange’, federal officials said.
He went to a warehouse yesterday and assembled what he believed to be a bomb using inert explosives provided by federal agents. He also recorded a video statement in which he said: ‘We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom.’
A US Justice Department spokesman said Nafis had links to Al Qaeda and attempted to form a terrorist cell in the US to assist him – but ended up recruiting an undercover FBI agent.
The spokesman added: ‘In a written statement intended to claim responsibility... Nafis included quotations from “our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden” to justify the fact that Nafis expected that the attack would involve the killing of women and children.’