Man who attempted bombing sentenced in federal court

August 9, 2013 By Charisma L. Miller, Esq. Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis was sentenced to a term of 30 years in Brooklyn federal court on charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda.

An undercover investigation revealed that the Nafis, a Bangladeshi native, came to the U.S. with the intent to perform a terrorist attack. An FBI agent came into contact with Nafis, who was searching for 20 fifty-pound bags of explosives. The undercover agent provided Nafis with fictitious materials to build a bomb.

On the morning of Oct. 17, 2012, Nafis arrived in Downtown Manhattan after he attempted to detonate what he believed to be a 1,000-pound bomb at the New York Federal Reserve Bank on Liberty Street in lower Manhattan.

“As alleged in the complaint, the defendant came to this country intent on conducting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and worked with single-minded determination to carry out his plan,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Loretta Lynch. “The defendant thought he was striking a blow to the American economy.”

Prior to the failed terrorist attempt, Nafis recorded a video statement that he intended to release in connection with the attack. “We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom,” Nafis said in the video.

“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,” said FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Mary Galligan.

Assistant United States Attorneys James P. Loonam and Richard M. Tucker prosecuted the government’s case, with assistance from Trial Attorney Bridget Behling of the Justice Department’s Counterterrorism Section.

Brooklyn attorney Heidi Cesare represented Nafis.