Arab arrested in plot to blow up Federal Reserve bank in New York

[socal]

October 17th, 2012
04:08 PM ET

CNN



Man arrested in plot to blow up Federal Reserve bank in New York

Editor's note: Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafism, a 21-year-old man, has been arrested on suspicion of planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, federal officials said. Authorities say he attempted to detonate what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb. This story is developing. As soon as we learn information we'll update the blog below.
[Posted at 4:18 p.m. ET] Paul J. Browne, deputy commissioner of the New York City Police Department, released the following statement on the alleged plot:

"Whether al -Qaeda operatives like (2003 Brooklyn Bridge suspect) Iyman Faris or those inspired by them like (2011 suspect in bomb-making case) Jose Pimentel, terrorists have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field. We're up to 15 plots and counting since 9/11, with the Federal Reserve now added to a list of iconic targets that previously included the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Stock Exchange, and Citicorp Center.
After 11 years without a successful attack, it's understanding if the public becomes complacent. But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford.
Vigilance is our watchword now and into the foreseeable future. That's why we have over 1,000 police officers assigned to counter-terrorism duties every day, and why we built the Domain Awareness System. I want to commend the NYPD detectives and FBI agents of the Joint Terrorist Task Force for the work they did in the case and in other ways every day to help New York City safe from terrorists."

[Posted at 4:08 p.m. ET] U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch from the Eastern District of New York made the following statement regarding the alleged terror plot attack:

"As alleged in the complaint, the defendant came to this country intent on conducting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and worked with single-minded determination to carry out his plan.
The defendant thought he was striking a blow to the American economy. He thought he was directing confederates and fellow believers. At every turn, he was wrong, and his extensive efforts to strike at the heart of the nation’s financial system were foiled by effective law enforcement.
We will use all of the tools at our disposal to stop any such attack before it can occur. We are committed to protecting the safety of all Americans, including the hundreds of thousands who work in New York’s financial district.
I would like to thank our partners at the FBI, NYPD, the other agencies who participate in the JTTF, and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, for their hard work on this important investigation. I would also like to thank the security teams at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and the New York Stock Exchange for their assistance."

[Posted at 4:08 p.m. ET] Nafis appeared to have had a back-up plan.
He met an undercover agent that supplied him with what he thought were explosives on Wednesday morning. After meeting up, they both traveled in a van to a warehouse, the Justice Department said.
That’s apparently when Nafis told the agent he had a "Plan B."
If Nafis felt his attack was about to be thwarted by cops, he would invoke the back-up plan, which involved a suicide bombing operation, the criminal complaint alleges.
When the pair arrived at the warehouse, Nafis began putting together what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb inside the van. Then they drove together to the target: The New York Federal Reserve Bank. As they drove, he armed the purported by putting together the detonator and the explosives, the criminal complaint says.
The van was then parked next to the bank. The pair went to a nearby hotel, where Nafis apparently recorded a video statement meant to be shown to the American public in connection with the attack.
"We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," he said, according to the criminal complaint.
He then tried, several times unsuccessfully, to detonate the device, which was actually inert explosives.
Nafis was then arrested.
A good portion of the sting operation was caught on tape, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
[Posted at 3:59 p.m. ET] The plot came to light as an FBI undercover agent posed as an al-Qaeda facilitator, federal authorities say.
Nafis asked the undercover agent for 50-pound bags of what he thought were explosives, and then worked on putting together an explosive device, according to prosecutors.
"Nafis purchased components for the bomb’s detonator and conducted surveillance for his attack on multiple occasions in New York City’s financial district in lower Manhattan," a Justice Department press release describing the criminal complaint said. “Throughout his interactions with the undercover agent, Nafis repeatedly asserted that the plan was his own and was the reason he had come to the United States."
[Posted at 3:56 p.m. ET] We now have some more detail about the plot to blow up the reserve bank from a press release that breaks down the criminal complaint filed against Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis:
The Bangladeshi national allegedly came to the United States in January to carry out a terror attack on U.S. soil and said he had overseas connections to al-Qaeda. As he attempted to recruit others to join his cell, he tried to recruit someone who turned out to be an FBI source, the criminal complaint says.
Nafis initially had a few targets in mind, according to the complaint, including "a high-ranking U.S. official and the New York Stock Exchange." In the end, Nafis settled on the New York Federal Reserve Bank, federal officials said.
"In a written statement intended to claim responsibility for the terrorist bombing of the Federal Reserve Bank on behalf of al-Qaeda, Nafis wrote that he wanted to 'destroy America' and that he believed the most efficient way to accomplish this goal was to target America’s economy," the Justice Department press release said. "In this statement, Nafis also 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."
The "explosives that he allegedly sought and attempted to use had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement and posed no threat to the public," according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch.
[Posted at 3:41 p.m. ET] Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested for allegedly attempting to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan, the Department of Justice and a U.S. attorney's office said in a press release.
He will be charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda, the press release said.
[Posted at 3: 40 p.m. ET] A man has been arrested for planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, according to a federal law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation.
The man was arrested as part of a string operation conducted by the FBI and NYPD as part of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a federal law enforcement source said.
"Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure. The defendant faces appropriately severe consequences," FBI Acting Assistant Director Mary Galligan said in a statement. "It is important to emphasize that the public was never at risk in this case, because two of the defendant’s ‘accomplices’ were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent. The FBI continues to place the highest priority on preventing acts of terrorism."

[Neo]

Well intentioned mo doubt, but pointless.. there isn't any money in there.

[flashbang]

I heard the guy was from Bangladesh? Dey is not Arabs, Innit?

[Bobcock]

Bangladesh has gone up in the world.....

[Cujo]

I heard the guy was from Bangladesh? Dey is not Arabs, Innit?

It's a Muslim country like Pakistan, who are also not arabs.

[VocalNeal]

When I was 21 I was planning to get laid. What is wrong with these boys?

[Thetyim]

^ ^
It's another American plot to derange the English language.
Anyone who wears a rag on their head is called an Arab

[Necron99]

Another FBI success story to keep the home fires burning.
Find a nutter and then encourage and supply him with everything he needs, including the idea.

[The Big Fella]

As above ! The FBI find a gullible idiot, convinces him they have a plan, train the idiot, provide the car and the bomb, produce and direct the "Death to all infidels " video and then when he tries to do what the FBI have told him to do they arrest the sucker and announce another dastardly Al Qaeda plot has been foiled. This must be about the fourth or fifth one they have foiled. It seems the only Jihadists you have in the USA are all trained and supplied by the FBI.
Do Americans honestly believe this nonsense ?

[Davis Knowlton]

.
Do Americans honestly believe this nonsense ?

Of course, it's on Fox.

[ENT]

That proves it!!
19 Arabs with box cutters did 9/11

No doubt about it!

[socal]

I heard the guy was from Bangladesh? Dey is not Arabs, Innit?

Bangladeshi citizenship, Arab name. Arab tactics, Arab connections.

[Davis Knowlton]

I heard the guy was from Bangladesh? Dey is not Arabs, Innit?

Bangladeshi citizenship, Arab name. Arab tactics, Arab connections.

Bangladeshi citizenship; very typical Bangladeshi name; FBI tactics; Al-Qaeda connections overseas in his adled mind.

[slackula]

Was it Ron Paul?

[The Big Fella]

In America anyone called Mohamed is an AaaaRab no matter where he actually comes from. Didn't they do the same thing with a bunch of them to do with flying a model plane filled with explosives into the Pentagon a few months ago ? They again trained them, supplied the plane and the explosives and as soon as they took off arrested the suckers
It never occurred to them that if a full sized plane full of fuel didn't do much damage a model plane wasn't exactly going to bring the place crashing to the ground.
Keep the people scared and you can take away their rights and freedoms and all in the name of keeping them safe !

[socal]

When I was 21 I was planning to get laid. What is wrong with these boys?

He was.

There are 72 virgins waiting for him if he pulled off this attack.

[socal]

I heard the guy was from Bangladesh? Dey is not Arabs, Innit?

Bangladeshi citizenship, Arab name. Arab tactics, Arab connections.

Bangladeshi citizenship; very typical Bangladeshi name; FBI tactics; Al-Qaeda connections overseas in his adled mind.

Assam pronunciation (help·info) (Assamese: অসম) pronounced [ɔxɔm]) is a northeastern state of India.

Out of the 38 insurgent outfits operating in Assam, 13 groups are related to Islamists. They include Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam, Muslim United Liberation Front of Assam, Muslim Security Council of Assam, Islamic Liberation Army of Assam, Muslim Volunteer Force, Muslim Liberation Army, Muslim Security Force, Islamic Sevak Sangh, Islamic United Reformation Protest of India, United Muslim Liberation Front of Assam, Revolutionary Muslim Commandos, Muslim Tiger Force, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jihad.

[Davis Knowlton]

Assam is in India. India and Bangladesh are not the same country.

[The Big Fella]

Same problem back in the UK. There they are Paki's Even if they are from India, Sri Lanka, bangladesh etc. Easier to simply label them all Paki's

[ENT]

Many of those "Assamese" groups are registered in Assam at Shillong, but are largely from Bangladesh.

Shillong, capital of semi-autonomous Meghalaya, Assam is a hotbed of many political groups looking for some sort of independence, and Muslims are a decided minority in Assam.

[Davis Knowlton]

Muslims are a decided minority in Assam.

31%; that's fairly significant.

[socal]

Same problem back in the UK. There they are Paki's Even if they are from India, Sri Lanka, bangladesh etc. Easier to simply label them all Paki's

They are all operating under the Islamic ideology.
Period.

[Spin]

This story is developing. As soon as we learn information we'll update the blog below.

[socal]

This story is developing. As soon as we learn information we'll update the blog below.

That was an exact quote from CNN.

[pickel]

Same problem back in the UK. There they are Paki's Even if they are from India, Sri Lanka, bangladesh etc. Easier to simply label them all Paki's

They are all operating under the Islamic ideology.
Period.

Sri Lanka? India? Islam is a minority in those countries you buffoon. Period.