Man arrested in Federal Reserve terror plot

Federal authorities running a sting operation arrested a 21-year-old Bangladeshi man, who came to the U.S. on a student visa and was allegedly planning to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with what he believed was a 1,000-pound bomb, officials said. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was detained Wednesday after an alleged attempt to detonate the device, which was inert and partof an elaborate investigation by federal authorities and NYPD detectives. Prosecutors say Nafis wasapparently motivated byal Qaeda and traveled tothe United States in January under the pretext of attending college in Missouri in order carry out "a terrorist attack on U.S. soil" and to recruit members to form a terrorist cell. Accused 9/11 mastermind says U.S. tortured in name of national security It's not clear whether Nafis maintained al Qaeda ties, but authorities say he apparently claimed that the plot was his own, and that it was his sole motivation for the U.S. trip. One of the people Nafis apparently contacted was an FBI source to whom he proposed multiple targets, including a high-ranking U.S. officialas well as the New York Stock Exchange, authorities said. At one point, the suspectcontemplated President Barack Obama as a target, but that idea never progressed, a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation said. While the details surrounding the suspected plot remain murky, prosecutors say Nafis indicated that he wanted to "destroy America" by going after the nation's financial institutions and ultimately settled on thelandmark bank. The undercover agent, authorities say, also provided 20 bags of 50 pounds each of purported explosives to Nafis, who then stored the material in a warehouse in preparation for the strike. They say Nafis further divulged a "Plan B" thatinvolved carrying out a suicide attack should police thwart his initial effort.