FBI has cuffed a Florida man for allegedly plotting to “nuke” the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in an effort to “reboot” or “reset” the U.S. government.
Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, a resident of South Florida, has been charged with attempting to use an improvised explosive device (IED) to target a “building used in interstate or foreign commerce.”
The probe into Yener started in February after the FBI received information that he was possessing bomb plans in a locked storage in Coral Springs, Florida. The alleged criminal complaint narrates that after obtaining a search warrant, agents found components such as “bomb-making sketches, numerous watches with timers electronic circuit boards and other electronics that can be utilised to build bombs.”
During questioning in March, Yener admitted to law enforcement that he had experience in building “rockets” and “bombs” and had previously sought to join a “domestic extremist group.” He also revealed that in 2015, he had contemplated travelling to Iraq to join ISIS but ultimately decided against it, citing doubts about the group’s ability to achieve “their objectives.”
Florida man planned to ‘reset’ the US government by bombing
Yener shared his plans with an undercover FBI agent, outlining his intention to detonate an IED at the NYSE. He allegedly set November 18 as the planned date for the attack. The agent claimed Yener’s “motivation for bombing the NYSE was to attain a ‘reboot’ and/or ‘reset’ of the United States government.”
“There is one place that would be hella easy… the stock exchange, that would be a great hit. Tons of people would support it. They would see it and think dude, this guy makes sense, they are [profanity] robbing us. So that’s perfect,” he told the agent.
On November 12, Yener recorded multiple audio messages that he allegedly planned to send to NBC News immediately following the attack. He even told the undercover agent, “I feel like Bin Laden.”
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Yener detailed wearing a disguise while planting the device and recording a message for news outlets. He allegedly envisioned the explosion as so catastrophic that it would feel “like a small nuke went off.” He reportedly said, “[a]nything outside” the building “will be wiped out” and “anything inside there would be killed.”