NEW YORK — The Bangladeshi man who is accused of trying to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank was indicted in Brooklyn Federal Court Thursday, according to reports.
Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, who officials say had ties to Al Qaeda, was caught in an FBI and NYPD undercover operation in October after he tried to set off a 1,000-pound bomb at the Lower Manhattan landmark.
He was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
Nafis said he wanted to "destroy America" by targeting economic institutions, according to the criminal complaint.
But one of the people he recruited to join his fledgling terror cell was an undercover FBI agent, who ensured that all the explosives Nafis acquired were inert and posed no threat to the public, officials said.
If convicted, Nafis faces life in prison. He is being held without bail.