Al-Qaeda-Inspired Man Who Sought To Blow Up Federal Reserve Bank In New York Sentenced To 30 Years In Prison

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday.

“Nafis came to the United States radicalized and bent on fighting jihad here in our homeland,” U.S. Attorney Lynch said in a statement. “He sought to commit mass murder in downtown Manhattan in the name of al-Qaeda.

He also actively sought out al-Qaeda contacts within the United States to assist him in carrying out an attack. One of the individuals he attempted to recruit into his jihadist cell was actually a source for the FBI and authorities were able to closely monitor Nafis as he attempted to implement his plan.

Ultimately, he decided to conduct a bombing operation against the New York Federal Reserve Bank. In a statement claiming responsibility for the bombing on behalf of al-Qaeda, he said he wanted to “destroy America” and that the way to do it was to target America’s economy. He included quotations from “our beloved Sheikh Osama bin Laden” to justify the expectation that the attack would involve the killing of women and children.

After taping the video explaining why he was going to carry out the attack, Nafis repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, attempted to detonate the bomb, which had been assembled using inert explosives provided by the undercover agent. He was then arrested and confessed to the entire plan in February.