Family of alleged Federal Reserve bomb plotter Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis shocked at allegations

Updated at 11:42 a.m. ET

DHAKA, Bangladesh Just a few hours before he was arrested in an FBI sting operation, a Bangladeshi man accused of trying to blow up New York's Federal Reserve building calmly spoke via Skype with his parents back home and updated them on his studies, his family told The Associated Press.

They were stunned Thursday morning to find out that the banker's son from a middle-class Dhaka neighborhood was accused of trying carry out a terror attack. They denied he could have been involved.

"My son couldn't have done it," his father, Quazi Ahsanullah, said weeping.

"My brother may have been a victim of a conspiracy," said Fariel Bilkis.

The FBI arrested 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis on Wednesday after he tried to detonate a fake 1,000-pound car bomb, according to a criminal complaint.

A U.S. official told CBS News that Nafis considered targeting President Obama before settling on the Federal Reserve building just blocks from the World Trade Center site but those considerations never got beyond the discussion stage.

On "CBS This Morning" Thursday, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that Nafis had made statements that he was in contact with a Qaeda network before he arrived in the United States in January. But there was no allegation that Nafis actually received training or direction from the terrorist group.

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In conversations recorded by the FBI, Miller reports Nafis allegedly said he admired the radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who inspired the "underwear bomber," Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and the accused Fort Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan. Even after Awlaki was killed in a drone strike, his magazine, called Inspire, supplied Nafis with the outlines for his plot.

Prosecutors said Nafis traveled to the U.S. on a student visa in January to carry out an attack.

Hours after his arrest, Bangladeshi detectives were at his family's three-story home in the Jatrabari neighborhood in south Dhaka.

"We are just collecting details about Nafis from his family," one officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Nafis' family said he was incapable of such actions and he went to America to study business administration, not to carry out any attack.

Nafis was so timid, he couldn't even venture out onto the roof alone, his father said. "He used to take someone to go the roof at night. I can't believe he could be part of it (the plot)."

"He is very gentle and devoted to his studies," he said, pointing to Nafis' time studying at the private North South University in Dhaka.

However, Belal Ahmed, a spokesman for the university, said Nafis was a terrible student who was put on probation and threatened with expulsion if he didn't bring his grades up. Nafis eventually just stopped coming to school, Ahmed said.

Ahsanullah said his son convinced him to send him to America to study, arguing that with a U.S. degree he had a better chance at success in Bangladesh.

"I spent all my savings to send him to America," he said.

CBS News reports that Nafis was enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University for the spring semester earlier this year and that he was pursuing a degree in cyber security; he is no longer enrolled there. He was pursuing a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity.

University spokeswoman Ann Hayes told The Associated Press that Nafis requested a transfer of his records in July and the university complied, though she couldn't say where the records were transferred.

Mohammad Arif Akunjee, a childhood friend, said Nafis wanted to be a businessman.

Just a few hours before his arrest, Nafis talked to his mother over Skype to update her on his plans, Bilkis said.

"My brother told my mother that he was doing well in studies in the U.S. and was transferring to a college in New York," said his sister.

Early Thursday, a relative living in Switzerland called to tell the family Nafis had been arrested.

"We woke up with this terrible news. We just can't believe it," she said.

Ahsanullah called on the government to "get my son back home."

Bangladesh does not have the same record of involvement in global terrorism as Pakistan, with which it once formed a nation before winning its independence in 1971. At least one Bangladeshi was among those detained by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

[shablon]

It is a clear case of entrapment. This has been time and time again by police all over the world. Most of such cases are thrown out of court.

[GossamerWings]

After reading YOURPAL2 and JABBERWOLF's post I can see why this so called nice boy tried to kill so many people. His religion allows him to kill the unbelievers. Thanks for the information. I also like that both post referenced the verse numbers to look up.

[bobsniffer]

what the report does not tell you is why this former east pakistani father (there's that name again "pakistan", so synonymous with jihad and islamic terrorism) is weeping.

he is weeping because he can recall how many times he has heard the mullah screaming out on fridays to "kill infidels" ie. non-muslims for offending ala over the loud speakers, repeatedly for hours "alu akbar!" and "death to america". so while the father in his younger hay days could only pelt stones and molotof cocktails at the american embassy, his prized and obedient son has finally reached the "shores of satan" to destroy the "great satan" albeit only to be arrested by the brave fbi and law enforcement agents.
this is the truth.
after all "hatered for non-muslims" industry is thriving and quadrupling each year thanks to our state department for stupidly sending billions of dollars to pakistan, the exporter of terror ideology.

[IAMCS]

He couldn't have done it. He couldn't even go onto the roof. Wow, Ok. You convinced me!

[SuziSaul]

"Prosecutors said Nafis traveled to the U.S. on a student visa in January to carry out an attack."

THIS needs to stop. Why do we continue to let people in who could very well want to kill us, then spend money we can't afford to monitor them and catch them if they actually go for broke? This is ridiculous!

[wmsshields]

"THIS needs to stop. Why do we continue to let people in who could very well want to kill us..."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I don't know for sure, but I think that right now we do this because 0b0z0 gets a warm, fuzzy feeling thinking how many votes it may generate for him; America and Americans come in a distant second after 0b0z0's perception of new voters for himself.

[hamiltongrad]

SO WHAT ?

[Mike_Murray]

Tired of the BS. Arrest the Dad too.

[eroteme2]

A number of years ago I served in Okinawa. A GI was charged with raping an Okinawan girl. At the trial his mother traveled from California, testified in court that her son was a good boy. Unfortunately this did not sway the jury, her son was found guilty. A mother is a mother.

[wmsshields]

Yeah, just talk to any minority suspect's family -- same thing -- "Oh, no, my son/daughter/niece/nephew/grandchild couldn't do this. He/she goes to church, loves his/her family, came from a good home".
What a bunch of crud. In the sixties, the left started this whole thing with "He had a rough childhood. He was abused. White man kept him down".

[eroteme2]

It is unfortunate, but until moderate Muslims here and abroad strongly denounce Muslim terrorists, which they have not yet done, many non-deserving Muslims will be suspected sympathizers of radical Muslims.