US flags hang on the building of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), after US President-elect Donald Trump won the presidential election, in New York City, US.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Federal officials have arrested a homeless Florida man in what they describe as a plan to detonate a bomb outside the New York Stock Exchange.
The man, Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, was charged with trying to use an explosive device to damage a building, after a monthslong undercover investigation by the FBI into his alleged desire to join extremist groups and carry out violent attacks, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday. The complaint suggests, however, that Yener did not have explosive material and was counting on others, who turned out to be undercover agents, to provide it.
Investigators said a search of a storage unit used by Yener yielded "bombmaking sketches, numerous watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics" that could be used to make an explosive device.
Yener, 40, also told an FBI informant about "his desire to join an antigovernment militia and to construct an improvised explosive device," the filing said.
Yener is accused of rewiring two-way radios to function as a triggering mechanism for the planned explosive device. Yener also advised undercover agents to acquire explosives for the bomb and take surveillance photos for where it would be placed outside the stock exchange building in lower Manhattan, according to the charging papers.
Last month, Yener informed the undercover agents that he wanted to detonate the bomb the week before Thanksgiving and that the stock exchange would be a popular target for such an attack.
"That would be a great hit," Yener told an agent, according to the criminal complaint. "Tons of people would support it. They would see it and think dude, this guy makes sense."
The complaint describes a suspect with grandiose and sometimes contradictory notions of his plan, saying at certain points he was comfortable killing people but at other points saying he wanted to detonate the bomb at 2 am.
On November 12, authorities say, Yener made a recording of his demands, saying, "I feel like bin Laden."
"Our war is with the government," he declared, according to the court papers.