“I feel like Osama Bin Laden,” said Florida Muslim arrested for allegedly planning to bomb the New York Stock Exchange

A South Florida Muslim man who wanted to “reboot” the United States by blowing up a New York City building is now behind bars, according to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Harun Abdul-Malik Yener told FBI agents that ‘tons of people’ would support the bombing.

CBS Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs was arrested on Wednesday and was charged with an attempt to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce, according to the DOJ.

According to the DOJ, the investigation into Yener began in February after the FBI received a tip that he was storing bomb-making schematics in an unlocked storage unit. The DOJ says, the FBI searched the unit and found bombmaking sketches, numerous watches with timers, electronic circuit boards, and other electronics that could be used for constructing explosive devices. The FBI also found multiple internet searches from Yener’s Google accounts about bomb-making that went back to as early as 2017.

In June, Yener told an FBI confidential source that he wanted to join an antigovernmental militia and construct an explosive device. After meeting an undercover FBI agent, whom Yener thought was part of a militia, he indicated he wanted to target a business located in New York City.

Yener chose the New York Stock Exchange as the ideal spot for his attack. The plan was to blow it up before the Thanksgiving holiday, the DOJ says. “There is one place that would be hella easy … the stock exchange, that would be a great hit,” Yener said. “Tons of people would support it. They would see it and think, dude, this guy makes sense, they are [profanity] robbing us. So that’s perfect.”

The DOJ continues that Yener crafted a remote trigger for the explosive device and conducted research on where to plant the bomb. Yener instructed undercover FBI agent employees to obtain the explosive element for the device, conduct surveillance of the building, and obtain photos of the building to identify the precise location for detonating the explosive device.

Yener planned to wear a disguise when he planted the explosive device outside the building and recorded a message to be delivered to the press about why he did it. The DOJ says Yener anticipated the impact of the explosion would be “like a small nuke went off” and “‘[a]nything outside” the building “will be wiped out’” and “anything inside would be killed.”

The undercover FBI employee gave a microphone to Yener for him to record his “demand statement” that he intended to send to NBC News the day of or the day after the planned attack. Yener commented: ‘I feel like Bin Laden,’“ the documents say.

The court filings detail the eerie message Yener recorded after.

The suspect called the would-be terrorist attacks “a new revolution.” “What you’ve just witnessed at the Stock Exchange and California was just the beginning of a new era,” Yener is quoted as saying. “Be warned, if you raise your fist, we will cut them off. If you kick at us, we will break your legs. If you speak ill of us, we will chop out your tongue. If you aren’t willing to stand, then you will fall a victim.”