We are the number one terrorist target in the country, if not in the world, said Rep. Peter King. We

You are using Internet Explorer 6. Internet Explorer 6 is unsupported by this site and you may experience rail travel usa layout and functionality issues. It is recommended that you upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer or switch to another browser.
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) A 21-year-old student from Queens was arrested rail travel usa Wednesday after allegedly being caught trying to detonate a fake bomb as part of a plot to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in lower Manhattan, officials said.
The suspect, identified as Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, was arrested following a sting-type operation with undercover agents whom he began to communicate rail travel usa via Facebook, according to the criminal complaint.
When he was captured Wednesday morning, rail travel usa Nafis was in the process of trying to detonate what he believed to be a 1,000-pound bomb in front of the Federal Reserve rail travel usa Bank on Liberty rail travel usa Street. Authorities said that there was never any actual danger to the public.
CBS News Senior Correspondent John Miller reported Nafis was involved in an online forum with al-Qaida sympathizers, expressing a desire for an attack that would have a significant impact on the U.S. economy, Miller said. Over the forum, the suspect was introduced to a source for the FBI, who got an undercover agent involved, Miller reported.
According to the indictment, in one meeting in July he told an informant, I don t want something that's like, small. I just want something big, something very big. Very very very very big, that will shake the whole country.
That undercover agent posed as an al-Qaida facilitator, authorities said, and supplied Nafis with 20 50-pound rail travel usa bags of purported explosive. Authorities rail travel usa said Nafis meticulously went about the process of purchasing the other components for a bomb, including rail travel usa a detonator, and assembled what he believed would be a functional device.
rail travel usa In fact, Nafis also quoted [O]ur beloved rail travel usa Sheikh Osama bin Laden in an article rail travel usa he had allegedly written and provided rail travel usa to an undercover to justify that his plot would likely involve the killing of women and children, believing it would appear in an al-Qaida publication.
According to officials, Nafis and an undercover agent drove together in a van carrying the device, packed with fake explosives, rail travel usa to the bank Wednesday morning. During the trip, Nafis allegedly told the undercover operative he had a Plan B of acting as a suicide bomber in case the plot was interrupted by police.
The two parked the van in front of the bank and walked rail travel usa to a nearby hotel, where Nafis allegedly recorded rail travel usa a video in which he said, We will not stop until we attain victory or martyrdom, authorities said.
Al-Qaida operatives and those they have inspired have tried time and again to make New York City their killing field. We are up to 15 plots and counting since 9/11, with the Federal Reserve now added to a list of iconic targets that previously included the Brooklyn Bridge, the New York Stock Exchange, and Citicorp Center, Kelly said. After 11 years without a successful attack, it's understandable if the public becomes complacent. But that's a luxury law enforcement can't afford. Vigilance is our watchword now and into the foreseeable rail travel usa future.
"As alleged in the complaint, the defendant came to this country intent on conducting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, and worked with single-minded determination to carry out his plan, said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
"Attempting to destroy a landmark building and kill or maim untold numbers of innocent bystanders is about as serious as the imagination can conjure. rail travel usa The defendant faces appropriately severe consequences, rail travel usa said FBI Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge Mary Galligan. It is important to emphasize that the public was never at risk in this case, because two of the defendants rail travel usa 'accomplices' were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent. The FBI continues to place the highest rail travel usa priority on preventing acts of terrorism."
As Kelly stated, the foiled bombing attempt by Nafis is the 15th attempted rail travel usa terror attack against New York since 2001, including a failed 2007 plot to bomb fuel lines at John F. Kennedy Airport, a plot that ended with four men were arrested.
Four more were busted in 2009 with plans to bomb two New York synagogues. The closest call came in 2010 when a smoking car bomb was discovered in Times Square. The bomb was disarmed before it detonated.
We are the number one terrorist target in the country, if not in the world, said Rep. Peter King. We have to be very concerned about who comes into this country.  We have to be concerned about people living here.  We re at war and so many people forget that.