New York – A man who was arrested in an alleged plot to buy grenades for an attack on Times Square is expected to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Friday, local media reported, citing unidentified law enforcement sources.
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The suspect, who was not identified, was arrested on Thursday after police and federal authorities learned he was inquiring about buying grenades and using them in Times Square, one of the most visited destinations in the United States, the New York Daily News reported.
His initial appearance in U.S. District Court is expected later on Friday, ABC News reported.
The New York Police Department referred all inquires on the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which declined to comment.
Authorities do not believe the man had links to a wider plot involving other people, according to the media reports.
Members of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is made up of FBI agents and New York police detectives, made the arrest. The task force began tracking him and eventually took him into custody, the reports said.
With its millions of visitors each year, Times Square, often called the crossroads of the world, has been targeted by at least two bombers in recent years, despite its heavily fortified police presence.
On May 1, 2010, police thwarted an attempted car bomb in Times Square, defusing a crude device made out of firecrackers and propane gas tanks.
A Pakistani-born U.S. citizen pleaded guilty to the plot, admitting that he had received bomb-making training from the Pakistani Taliban and that the group, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan had funded the plot. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In December 2017, a Bangladeshi man set off a homemade pipe bomb strapped to his body in a crowded underground pedestrian tunnel near Times Square. The man, Akayed Ullah, was convicted of six criminal counts, including use of a weapon of mass destruction and support of a terrorist organization.
On Friday morning, it was business as usual in Times Square, with a bustle of people on their way to work and tourists beginning to stream into the area.
Kate Fan, a 28-year-old charity worker visiting from her home in Guangzhou, China, said that she heard about the incident but still felt safe.
“We hear a lot of stories about New York being unsafe, but we feel like people sometimes exaggerate safety issues,” she said.
God name either begins or ends with Muhammad. Just a wild guess
I wonder what nationality he is….duh.
I was wrong. His name was not Muhammad. But I was right. He is of no nationality except his devotion to the death cult that is called religious Islam. Religion of peace.