NEW YORK — A Bangladesh native accused of trying to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York with what he thought was a 1,000-pound car bomb pleaded guilty Thursday to terrorism charges stemming from an FBI sting.
“I had intentions to commit a violent jihadist act,” Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis said in a soft voice while entering the plea in federal court in Brooklyn.
He told the judge that he picked the Federal Reserve as the target, but he also expressed remorse, saying he no longer considers himself a jihadist.
“I deeply and sincerely regret my involvement in this case,” he said.
Nafis, 21, had been charged in October with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al-Qaida. He faces a sentence of 30 years to life at his next court date on May 30.
While under investigation, Nafis spoke of his admiration for Osama bin Laden, talked of writing an article about his plot for an al-Qaida-affiliated magazine and said he would be willing to be a martyr but preferred to go home to his family after carrying out the attack, authorities said.
He also talked about wanting to kill President Barack Obama and bomb the New York Stock Exchange, officials said.
