30-year-old Harun Abdul-Malik Yener of Coral Springs, Florida, was arrested by federal agents on Wednesday after being charged with “attempting to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce.”
After receiving a tip that Yener kept bombmaking schematics in an unlocked storage unit, the FBI launched an investigation into the suspect in February 2024.
Yener, who is homeless, reportedly kept his belongings in the storage unit. It’s unclear if the storage unit was being paid for by law enforcement.
During its investigation, the FBI claims it learned of a plot to detonate a bomb at the New York Stock Exchange on the week of November 18, 2024, and a Google search history riddled with bomb making queries.
Yener talked about the scheme during a conversation with “an FBI undercover employee, whom YENER believed to be part of a militia,” according to a 25-page criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent.
The assault was to be carried out by the FBI-controlled “militia” of which the suspect thought he was a member.
The document says Yener’s “motivation for bombing the NYSE was to attain a ‘reboot’ and/or ‘reset’ of the United States government,” and that he “re-wired two-way radios to function as a remote trigger for the explosive device” while inside of a “law enforcement-controlled secure location that he believed to be controlled by the militia.”
It’s possible the storage unit was the “law enforcement-controlled secure location.”
The suspect also requested the FBI undercover employees provide the explosive element for the device, conduct surveillance of the NYSE, and take photos of the building to identify the precise location for detonating the bomb.
Yener allegedly planned on wearing a disguise while planting the device at the NYSE building.
The Florida native also suggested the militia record an audio message to send to media outlets on the day of the attack.
The FBI agent who wrote the criminal complaint said Yener hoped the explosion would look “like a small nuke went off,” and that “[a]nything outside” the building would “be wiped out” and “anything inside there would be killed.”
Yener and some associates reportedly tried to join the “Boogaloo Boys” and “Proud Boys” groups at one point, but were turned down “because Yener expressed a desire to pursue martyrdom, which led both the Boogaloo Boys and Proud Boys to deem him unsuitable.”
It’s also possible the two groups are cautious of letting suspected feds or informants into their parties and that Yener raised red flags.
Around 2015, people claiming to be with ISIS reached out to Yener and tried to get him to join the terror group in Iraq, he supposedly told FBI agents.
Feds executed a search warrant on Yener’s storage unit in March, finding “numerous electronic watches with alarm and timer features, approximately ten sets of Bluetooth wireless headphones, and various electronic circuit board components” that they say “could be used” to construct explosive devices.
During the investigation, FBI employees learned the suspect once threatened to kill people “like the Parkland shooter did” after being fired from a job.
Hinting there may be a religious motivation behind the plot, Yener told one of the undercover FBI sources, “I’m ready for my Jihad.”
“Relatives who had experience constructing improvised explosive devices” allegedly taught Yener how to build bombs, and he claimed to have received blueprints from “unnamed foreign terrorist organizations,” showing he has interesting connections beyond his informant pals.
Furthering the potential that Yener is a religiously-motivated plotter is a remark he made about trying to “delay” U.S. “sales of arms to foreign countries,” possibly referring to Israel.
“I chose that target specifically because it not only has sentimental value, but it will hurt the U.S., at least delay them on their sales of arms to foreign countries,” he told an informant.
The terror suspect reportedly discussed targeting politicians, but the FBI didn’t say which leaders or what political party Yener had a feud with.
Regarding the decision to target the NYSE, 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.”
Following the NYSE attack, Yener was going to issue a list of demands, including, “(1) mass deportation of ‘illegal immigrants and undocumented migrants’ and the discontinuation of ‘funding and housing’ for immigrants and migrants; (2) increased funding for various social programs, infrastructure, public housing, and programs intended to curb inflation; and (3) that the ‘U.S. gov’ cease the sale of ‘arms’ and funding to ‘foreign entities.'”
During a meeting with informants he thought were militia members, Yener said, “I feel like Bin Laden,” and recorded the message to be sent to media outlets after the planned bombing.
Informants told the suspect they had another “event” planned to hit California around the same time as the NYSE attack, leading him to state in the recording, “What you’ve just witnessed at the Stock
Exchange and California was just the beginning of a new era. A new revolution. Our war is with the government.”
Many internet users are mocking the FBI for appearing to have entrapped a homeless man instead of monitoring real terrorist groups operating within the U.S.