A New York court will now deliver on Aug 9 the verdict on Kazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, who admitted attempts to bomb New York Federal Reserve Bank.
US District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon set the date in presence of Nafis’s lawyer Heidi Csear and US government prosecutor Richard Tucker on Thursday night (Bangladeshi time).
Federal court’s fugleman Robert Nardoja told bdnews24.com that Nafis was present at scene. The 21-year-old Bangladeshi confessed to the court and pleaded guilty on Feb 7 this year.
Federal agents helped Nafis with the bomb plot as part of an undercover operation.
He was arrested in October after trying to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb at the Fed in Lower Manhattan, according to prosecutors. The device was a fake.
Nafis told the Brooklyn Eastern District Federal Court on Thursday (local time) that he had planned to blow up the Federal Reserve building.
In his confessional statement, Nafis said he became a follower of Osama Bin Laden and plotted a terrorist attack before he went to the US.
But he was all regrets now. “I no longer support violent Jihad. I deeply regret my involvement in this case.”
On that day, the judge had set May 30 the verdict date.
He faces a possible sentence of 30 years to life in prison under an agreement with the government.
The US Department of Justice said Nafis had been charged with attempting to use ‘a weapon of mass destruction’ and provide material support to Al Qaeda. The charges were framed on Nov 15.
The FBI alleged Nafis had parked a van laden with ‘explosives’ in front of the Federal Reserve Building in Manhattan and went to the adjacent Millennium Hilton Hotel.
From the hotel, he repeatedly tried to set off the 1000-bomb by a mobile phone. The FBI said that the explosive did not detonate as it 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.
Bangladesh-born Nafis went to the United States on Jan 2012 for education.
Source: Bd news24