BANGLADESH

A Grand Jury will decide whether charges will finally be framed against Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Hasan Nafis, who was arrested by FBI in a 'sting operation' in New York over a 'bomb plot'.

"This is not the stage to say whether Nafis is guilty or not," Brooklyn Federal Court's spokesperson Robert Nardoza told bdnews24.com on Saturday (New York Time).

"If the Grand Jury opines that final charges should be pressed against Nafis, then the hearing will start and Nafis' statement will be recorded. He can then claim innocence or accept charges against him."

Meanwhile, New York's human rights lawyer Ashok Karmakar told bdnews24.com, "Usually the sensational cases are sent to the 12-member Grand Jury these days. Nafis' case is one of the most sensational cases in recent times."

"However, the Grand Jury Board will only listen to the statement of the investigating officer and will see documents submitted by him. Based on that, they will decide whether the case should continue," he explained.

"Even though, the accused has no option to represent his case at this time, the Grand Jury can play a major role in ensuring justice."

The bomb charge

The US Department of Justice said in the statement on Wednesday Nafis had been charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and provide material support to al Qaeda. He faces life sentence in prison, if convicted.

The FBI said on Wednesday morning (evening in Bangladesh) Nafis parked a van laden with 'explosives' in front of the bank in Manhattan and went to the adjacent Millennium Hilton Hotel. From there, he repeatedly tried to set off the mobile phone detonator of the 1000-pound bomb. However, it did not explode as the explosive was fake.

The NYPD said that Nafis was led on by an undercover FBI agent into their trap. He was under surveillance since July after he tried to search reliable associates to carry out the attack on behalf of al-Qaeda.

The FBI on Wednesday arrested a Bangladeshi man in a sting operation on charges he attempted to blow up the New York Federal Reserve Bank with what he believed was a 1,000-pound (450-kg) bomb, federal authorities said.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, faces charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. If convicted, he faces life in prison.

The FBI said the public was not in danger because the explosives provided to Nafis were never in working condition and the suspect was closely monitored by the undercover agent - highlighting a script law enforcement has employed several times this year in similar cases, including one in Washington and another in Ohio.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama had been briefed about the arrest.

"Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure," said Mary Galligan, FBI acting assistant director-in-charge. "The defendant faces appropriately severe consequences."

In an initial appearance in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, Nafis wore a plain brown crew-neck T-shirt, dark-colored jeans and sneakers. He barely spoke during the brief hearing, mumbling answers of "yes" to questions from US Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann.

According to the criminal complaint, Nafis traveled to the United States in January 2012. Once in New York, he claimed to be in contact with al Qaeda members overseas, although federal agents found no evidence that he was working for al Qaeda or that he was directed by the organisation, according to a US official who declined to be named.

Nafis considered several targets for his attack, including the New York Stock Exchange and a high-ranking government official, whom the US official identified as Obama.

In the end, the criminal complaint said, Nafis decided to focus on the Federal Reserve Bank in lower Manhattan, which stands like a limestone and sandstone fortress atop what is believed to be one of the world's largest stockpiles of gold.

RECRUITS

To create a cell to help him carry out the bombing, Nafis began to seek out recruits, eventually bringing on board an undercover agent working for the FBI.

The two met on Wednesday morning and traveled by van to a New York warehouse, where Nafis assembled what he thought was a 1,000 pound bomb, before driving to the Federal Reserve Bank, among the most secure and guarded buildings in Manhattan.

After parking near the bank, Nafis walked to a nearby hotel and recorded a video statement in which he said, "We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom," according to the FBI.

Nafis was arrested in the hotel as he repeatedly attempted to detonate the inert bomb, the FBI said.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, whose department was part of the operation, objected to suggestions that Nafis' plans were crude and bumbling.

"I don't see how you characterise (him as) unsophisticated, I mean he was arrested, but he clearly had the intent to create mayhem here," Kelly told reporters.

Other FBI sting operations this year have netted at least one foreign suspect, as well as some from the United States.

In February, a 29-year-old Moroccan man was arrested near the US Capitol wearing a vest he believed was full of al Qaeda-supplied explosives, and charged in an attempted suicide bombing of Congress.

Five self-described anarchists in the Cleveland area were arrested in May and accused of plotting to blow up a four-lane highway bridge. An undercover FBI agent had sold the men inoperable detonators and plastic explosives.