FBI arrests man accused of planning attack on New York Stock Exchange – Firstpost

Harun Abdul-Malik Yener had been under FBI surveillance since February after it received information that he had “bomb-making diagrams” in a warehouse.

A Florida man was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack on the New York Stock Exchange. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said the man planned to plant a bomb near the stock exchange building to “restart” the US government.

Who is the man?

The man was identified as Harun Abdul-Malik Yener of Coral Springs, Florida.

Yener, 30, was charged by the FBI with attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce.

How did the FBI put together their plan?

The FBI began investigating Yener in February based on a tip that he had “bomb-making diagrams” in a warehouse.

According to the FBI, they found bomb design sketches, multiple timer watches, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used to build explosive devices.

According to the FBI, he also searched the Internet for topics related to bomb making since 2017.

What was the motive?

A 30-year-old man told undercover FBI agents that he planned to set off the bomb a week before Thanksgiving. When asked why he chose the New York Stock Exchange building, Yener replied, “It’s a popular site to target.”

“We want to hit the Stock Exchange with this because it will wake people up,” he told undercover FBI agents, according to court documents.

Yener, who was described as “homeless”, wanted to bomb the stock exchange to “reboot” the US government, explaining that it would look “like a small nuclear weapon went off”, killing everyone in the building, according to court documents.

With inputs from AP