New York: Two Muslim Men Arrested After Planning To Blow Up NYC Landmarks During Christmas Holidays

For peaceful purposes …

Daily Mail – “A Pakistani-born man wanted to avenge the deaths of U.S. drone attacks in Afghanistan by blowing up a New York City landmark but lacked the money and materials to carry out the plan, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gilbert said at a bail hearing that Raees Alam Qazi, 20, researched bomb-making techniques on Internet sites affiliated with al-Qaida, including one using Christmas tree lights, and the FBI recorded phone calls and conversations linking Qazi to a purported ‘lone wolf’ plot.

‘He fully intended to do this, and thankfully he didn’t have enough money,’ Gilbert said. Referring to casualties in U.S. drone attacks, she added: ‘He wants to avenge those deaths and kill people.’

Qazi traveled to New York last month in hopes of getting a job to fund his terrorist plans, Gilbert said, but wound up sleeping in public transportation, a mosque and in restaurants, and riding a bicycle around the city looking for potential targets.

He then decided to return home on a Greyhound bus and was arrested after arriving back in South Florida, she said.

Qazi, a naturalized U.S. citizen who attended local Florida public schools, confirmed many elements of the plot in a statement to FBI agents after his arrest in late November, Gilbert said.

Investigators also found bomb-making and related components at the Qazi family home in Oakland Park, as well as explosives research evidence on a computer used by Qazi.

Qazi is charged along with his brother, 30-year-old taxi driver Sheheryar Alam Qazi, with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction in the U.S.” Read more.