Parents of Quazi Mohammad Rezwanuk Ahsan Nafis, who was arrested Wednesday for attempting to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank claim that his arrest was a "racist conspiracy" and that he is innocent of the crimes alleged against him, as reported by Reuters.
On Friday, authorities visited Dhaka the capital of Bangladesh in search of further details regarding Nafis. The country's foreign minister, Dipu Moni told Reuters:
"Bangladesh intelligence visited the residence of Nafis in Dhaka on Thursday night and interrogated his parents and closest relatives to find out details of his life pattern in Bangladesh...The relevant government agencies of Bangladesh have been enquiring about Nafis's activities in Bangladesh, whether he had any link with any terrorist activities and activists."
Authorities say that Nafis, who was arrested Wednesday afternoon after the FBI and NYPD caught him trying to detonate a bond at New York City's Federal Reserve Bank, has no known ties to al-Qaida or any other terrorist group.
Nafis was charged with "attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida," according to the report by NBC.
FBI acting assistant director-in-charge, Mary Galligan told Reuters, "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."
The New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly also told Reuters, "I don't see how you characterize (him as) unsophisticated, I mean he was arrested, but he clearly had the intent to create mayhem here."
The 21-year-old was arrested in an FBI and NYPD sting operation when he recruited an under-cover agent to carry out an attack on the Federal Reserve Bank located on Liberty Street in lower Manhattan.
According to a breaking news report by NBC New York, Nafis allegedly transferred a 1000-pound from Long Island to Manhattan in a van, after which he parked the vehicle by the building and tried to set off the explosives with a cellphone.
Upon his arrest Nafis told FBI, "We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," as reported by Reuters.
Nafis came to the U.S. about a year ago, supposedly in or around January, from Bangladesh.
The FBI says that Nafis was caught under an undercover sting operation in which "one of the individuals he attempted to recruit was actually a source for the FBI," according to USA Today. The report also confirms that he "drove a car carrying what he believed was a bomb to the building in Lower Manhattan, planning to detonate the device," however authorities reiterate that the public was never under any risk since what Nafis thought to be bombs were FBI decoys.
The Federal Reserve Bank building is located on Liberty Street in lower Manhattan, a few blocks away from the World Trade Memorial Center. It is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks in the country.
