WASHINGTON (AFP) – United States (US) police arrested a homeless man suspected of plotting to bomb the New York Stock Exchange this week after he shared his plans with undercover officers, according to a court filing.
The suspect, identified as Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, was arrested after a months-long investigation by agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who were allegedly asked by Yener to help find explosive components to build a pipe bomb.
Yener, a Florida native born in the US in 1994, thought the undercover agents were members of a militia he had sought to join.
His motive for the bombing was to create a “reboot” of the US government, according to the FBI.
He told the undercover agents he chose the Stock Exchange building in New York because “tonnes of people would support it”.
“I’ve already seen it, I know the layout of it, there is barely any security,” he later told police.
A search of a storage unit owned by Yener turned up bombmaking sketches, timers, circuit boards and other electronics “that could be used for constructing explosive devices”, the FBI said.
Search warrants yielded Internet browsing history for Yener involving “aspects of bombmaking” as early as 2017.
