10/21/12 12:33 PM
Bangladesh
Bangladesh probing background of NY terror suspect
DHAKA Police in Bangladesh on Saturday interviewed former teachers and classmates of a Bangladeshi man charged with trying to blow up the Federal Reserve building in New York, investigating whether he had connections with radical groups at home.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police official Monirul Islam said detectives on Saturday will visit North South University in Dhaka where Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis studied before going to the United States. They were to interview teachers, classmates and school officials.
Bangladeshi detectives have already visited Nafis' village, where they found no evidence of ties with radical groups.
Nafis, 21, was arrested in New York on Wednesday in an FBI sting operation. A criminal complaint says he made several attempts to blow up a fake 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) car bomb near the Federal Reserve.
Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir has pledged that Bangladesh will assist the United States in investigating Nafis.
Nafis' family in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka denied he could have been involved in the plot and said he went to America only to study.
Angola Press - International - Bangladesh probing background of NY terror suspect
Bangladesh quizzes family of alleged U.S. bomb plotter
(Reuters) - Bangladeshi security agents have questioned the family of a man accused of trying to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to find out if he has any link to militants, the country's foreign minister said on Friday.
Bangladeshi national Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested on Wednesday in New York and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to provide material support to al Qaeda.
Nafis' father told reporters in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka a day later his son, who was studying in the United States, was innocent and the victim of a "racist conspiracy".
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said the authorities were trying to find out whether there were any grounds to the accusations against Nafis.
"Bangladesh intelligence visited the residence of Nafis in Dhaka on Thursday night and interrogated his parents and closest relatives to find out details of his life pattern in Bangladesh," she told a news conference.
"The relevant government agencies of Bangladesh have been enquiring about Nafis's activities in Bangladesh, whether he had any link with any terrorist activities and activists," she said.
The authorities would do all they could to help Nafis if they concluded he was not guilty, the minister added.
The criminal complaint against Nafis said he had travelled by van with a man to a New York warehouse where Nafis assembled what he thought was a 1,000-pound (450-kg) bomb.
The man he believed to be an accomplice was in fact an undercover agent working for the FBI and the explosives were not in working condition, according to the complaint.
One of Nafis's relatives, Sharif Akhunji, said the family knew he had moved from Missouri, where he was studying in college, to New York, but that had been for academic reasons, to take courses at another institution.
"Yes, we were aware of his movements," he told reporters. "He stayed there at the home of one of our relatives. Everything was transparent. There is nothing to hide."
(Editing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Bangladesh quizzes family of alleged U.S. bomb plotter | Reuters
Bangladesh officials want more details on Fed terror plot suspect
By Michael Muskal
October 19, 2012, 11:40 a.m.
Bangladesh officials are seeking talks with U.S. State Department diplomats over the arrest of a Bangladeshi man on charges that he wanted to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank building in New York, Bangladeshs foreign minister said on Friday.
Speaking at a news conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said officials want to know details about the arrest of Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21. Nafis is being held on terror-related charges in New York, accused of trying to detonate a 1,000-pound bomb at the Federal Reserve.
A State Department spokeswoman in Washington said by telephone that she had no information about any meeting with Bangladesh representatives. The topic did not come up at the daily State Department media briefing.
But Moni said Bangladesh was seeking information from the State Department on Nafis and diplomats may want to meet personally with the suspect. It is a serious matter and I will not speak until I get feedback from our U.S. mission, she said.
Bangladesh officials have also questioned Nafis parents and relatives, in part to see if he had any contact with terrorist activities and activists, she said.
American authorities have described Nafis as a sympathizer of the terror group Al Qaeda who traveled to the United States on a student visa. He then tried to organize the attack on the Manhattan Federal Reserve, but contacted undercover FBI agents instead.
The criminal complaint alleges that Nafis traveled by van with a man he thought was co-conspirator to a New York warehouse. He then tied to detonate a 1,000-pound bomb at the Federal Reserve. The man turned out to be an undercover agent and the detonator was an inoperative cellphone. The public was never in danger, authorities said.
Nafis family argues that he is timid and couldnt possibly be involved in a terrorist plot. If anything, his father told reporters this week, it is the United States that is conspiring to ensnare his son.
My son couldn't have done it, Quazi Ahsanullah told reporters. He is very gentle and devoted to his studies, he said, pointing to Nafis' time studying at the private North South University in Dhaka.
Ahsanullah said his son had insisted that a U.S. degree would give him a better chance at success in Bangladesh. I spent all my savings to send him to America, the father said.
On his student visa, Nafis traveled to Missouri, where he studied cybersecurity at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He also became vice president of the school's Muslim Student Assn. and began attending a mosque. University President Kenneth Dobbins said at a news conference Thursday that Nafis was suspended because of poor academic performance. Nafis then asked that his transcripts be sent to the New York school.
Dion Duncan of St. Louis, a fellow student and member of the Muslim organization, said: Nafis was a good kid. He showed no traces of anti-Americanism, or 'death to America,' or anything like that. He was a trustworthy, honest kid.
He was polite and courteous. He was helpful. All the things you would expect from a good Muslim kid. He prayed five times a day, Duncan told reporters.
Bangladesh officials want more details on Fed terror plot suspect - latimes.com
...thanks for remembering me.
