CORAL SPRINGS, FL - On Wednesday, November 20th, a homeless Florida man was arrested and charged with plotting to bomb the New York Stock Exchange to force a "reboot or reset" of the United States government.
According to NBC News, the FBI started looking into the suspect, Harum Abdul-Malik Yener, back in February after receiving a tip that he was storing bomb-making schematics in a storage unit in Coral Springs. The criminal complaint states that after they got Yener's permission, FBI agents searched the storage unit in early March and found spiral-bound notebooks with drawings of land mines, explosives, missiles, and other improvised explosive devices.
Yener proceeded to tell FBI agents that he was creating "rockets" with very "volatile" chemical mixtures that would explode if they were mixed incorrectly. He also claimed that he was recruited over Facebook Messenger to join ISIS overseas, but ultimately decided against it because he believed the terrorist group would not succeed in achieving its objectives. The complaint states that near the end of the interview, Yener told the FBI agents that he was waiting for the right moment to take action within the U.S.
He said, "I am just waiting for some kind of hole to open up and I can go, ah, there it is – I'll know it when I see it." A few days later, with a search warrant, the agents went back to the storage unit and discovered "bombmaking sketches, numerous watches with timers, electronic circuit boards, and other electronics" that "could be used for constructing explosive devices."
Later, undercover FBI agents made contact with Yener and convinced him that they wanted to help carry out an attack. They tracked Yener throughout the summer and into the fall. In October, he asked an undercover agent to drive him to Walmart, where he picked up items and tools, including a soldering iron and a multimeter voltage reader, which he needed in order to construct an improvised explosive device.
Afterward, he told the undercover agent that he settled on the New York Stock Exchange as the location where he would detonate the IED. The complaint said that Yener said, "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 ... robbing us. So, that's perfect."
Days later, he told a group of undercover FBI agents that he wanted to bomb the stock exchange the week before Thanksgiving. He also said he wanted to send a statement to a news station that would explain his motivation and objectives. On November 12th, he made a series of audio recordings with the help of an FBI undercover agent and said he wanted to send them to NBC News either the day of the bombing or the day after.
In one of the recordings he said, "What you've just witnessed at the stock exchange ... was just the beginning of a new era. A new revolution. We ask and encourage others to follow suit in their pursuit for change." According to the BBC, he allegedly maintained a YouTube channel with videos describing how to make explosives from household items. Yener has been charged with the attempted use of an explosive to damage or destroy any building used in interstate or foreign commerce.
According to NBC News, the FBI started looking into the suspect, Harum Abdul-Malik Yener, back in February after receiving a tip that he was storing bomb-making schematics in a storage unit in Coral Springs. The criminal complaint states that after they got Yener's permission, FBI agents searched the storage unit in early March and found spiral-bound notebooks with drawings of land mines, explosives, missiles, and other improvised explosive devices.
Yener proceeded to tell FBI agents that he was creating "rockets" with very "volatile" chemical mixtures that would explode if they were mixed incorrectly. He also claimed that he was recruited over Facebook Messenger to join ISIS overseas, but ultimately decided against it because he believed the terrorist group would not succeed in achieving its objectives. The complaint states that near the end of the interview, Yener told the FBI agents that he was waiting for the right moment to take action within the U.S.
He said, "I am just waiting for some kind of hole to open up and I can go, ah, there it is – I'll know it when I see it." A few days later, with a search warrant, the agents went back to the storage unit and discovered "bombmaking sketches, numerous watches with timers, electronic circuit boards, and other electronics" that "could be used for constructing explosive devices."
Later, undercover FBI agents made contact with Yener and convinced him that they wanted to help carry out an attack. They tracked Yener throughout the summer and into the fall. In October, he asked an undercover agent to drive him to Walmart, where he picked up items and tools, including a soldering iron and a multimeter voltage reader, which he needed in order to construct an improvised explosive device.
Afterward, he told the undercover agent that he settled on the New York Stock Exchange as the location where he would detonate the IED. The complaint said that Yener said, "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 ... robbing us. So, that's perfect."
Days later, he told a group of undercover FBI agents that he wanted to bomb the stock exchange the week before Thanksgiving. He also said he wanted to send a statement to a news station that would explain his motivation and objectives. On November 12th, he made a series of audio recordings with the help of an FBI undercover agent and said he wanted to send them to NBC News either the day of the bombing or the day after.
In one of the recordings he said, "What you've just witnessed at the stock exchange ... was just the beginning of a new era. A new revolution. We ask and encourage others to follow suit in their pursuit for change." According to the BBC, he allegedly maintained a YouTube channel with videos describing how to make explosives from household items. Yener has been charged with the attempted use of an explosive to damage or destroy any building used in interstate or foreign commerce.
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