A man was arrested on Wednesday and charged with a plot to “reboot” the US government by planting a bomb at the New York Stock Exchange this week and detonating it with a remote-controlled device, according to the FBI.
Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs, Florida, was charged with attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce.
The FBI began investigating Mr Yener in February following a tip he was storing “bombmaking schematics” in a storage unit.
They said they found bomb-making sketches, many watches with timers, electronic circuit boards and other electronics that could be used for building explosive devices.
He had also searched online for things related to bomb-making since 2017.
Signs marking the intersection of Broad and Walls streets near the New York Stock Exchange (AP/Peter Morgan)
Mr Yener told undercover FBI agents that he wanted to detonate the bomb the week before Thanksgiving and that the stock exchange in lower Manhattan would be a popular site to target.
“The Stock Exchange, we want to hit that, because it will wake people up,” he told undercover FBI agents, according to court documents.
He wanted to bomb the stock exchange to “reboot” the US government, explaining that it would be “like a small nuke went off,” killing everyone inside the building, according to court documents.
In the last month, he had rewired two-way radios so that they could work as remote triggers for an explosive device and planned to wear a disguise when planting the explosives, according to court documents.
Mr Yener had his first court appearance on Wednesday afternoon and will be detained while he awaits a trial.