A Florida man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly plotting to bomb the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City in order to "reset" the U.S. government, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida announced.
Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs, Fla., was arrested on a charge of attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce.
According to court documents, the FBI began investigating Yener in February after receiving a tip that he had bombmaking schematics in an unlocked storage unit. The FBI searched the storage unit and found "bombmaking sketches, numerous watches with timers, electronic circuit boards, and other electronics that could be used for constructing explosive devices."
A search of Yener's Google account revealed he had allegedly been searching bombmaking since as early as 2017.
In June, Yener allegedly spoke to a confidential FBI source about wanting to join an anti-government militia and to construct an explosive device. Yener then met an undercover FBI employee he believed to be a militia member and allegedly said he wanted to target the NYSE the week before Thanksgiving.
Yener allegedly said he wanted to bomb the NYSE in order to "reboot" or "reset" the U.S. government. Over the course of the last month, he allegedly constructed remote triggers using two-way radios, and researched where to plant the bomb.
Yener allegedly tasked undercover FBI employees with procuring the explosive element for the bomb and surveilling the target, obtaining photos to identify the location where the bomb should be planted. He allegedly recorded a message for the press about his reasons for the attack.
Yener expected the explosion would be "like a small nuke went off" and that "[a]nything outside" the building "will be wiped out" and "anything inside there would be killed."
Yener's first court appearance was Wednesday, and he will be detained while awaiting trial.
With reporting from TMX.
