By Brendan Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A New York man praised Osama Bin Laden and talked about killing police officers as he plotted an attack on Times Square, one of midtown Manhattan’s most crowded crossroads, prosecutors said on Friday.
Ashiqul Alam, 22, from Jackson Heights in the city’s Queens borough, was charged with illegally acquiring firearms as part of a plan, federal officials said.
Alam was arrested on Thursday after receiving two Glock 19 nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistols with their serial numbers stripped off from undercover law enforcement officers, according to a complaint unsealed on Friday in Brooklyn federal court.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
During meetings with an undercover federal agent, Alam expressed support for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York as well as the militant group Islamic State, according to the complaint. He also discussed using an explosive suicide vest in an attack.
“As alleged, Ashiqul Alam bought illegal weapons as part of his plan to kill law enforcement officers and civilians in a terrorist attack on Times Square,†U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue, whose office brought the charges, said in a statement.
Alam is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn later on Friday.
Alam’s lawyer, James Darrow, said he had no immediate comment.
Times Square, with its millions of visitors each year, is often called the crossroads of the world, and has been targeted by at least two bombers in recent years, despite the presence of heavily armed police.
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.
Kate Fan, a 28-year-old charity worker visiting from Guangzhou, China, said she had 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.
(Writing and additional reporting by Meredith Mazzilli, Peter Szekely and Ayenat Mersie; Editing by Frank McGurty, Nick Zieminski and James Dalgleish)
