A Massachusetts man was arrested and charged Wednesday with plotting to launch airborne bomb attacks on the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
A man believed to be accused terror plotter Rezwan Ferdaus playing drums in Goosepimp Orchestra. (via Google Cache)
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, Rezwan Ferdaus, a U.S. citizen with a degree in physics, concocted detailed plans to launch three radio controlled aircraft filled with C-4 explosives from East Potomac Park (across the river from Reagan Airport) in Washington. Using GPS guidance equipment and the help of six associates, Ferdaus’s aircraft would fly into the Pentagon and Capitol Building in an effort to damage or destroy them. He hoped to cause “psychological” damage by killing American women and children, who he considered “enemies of Allah. “I just can’t stop; there is no other choice for me,” said Ferdaus, according to the Department of Justice.
The plot was unraveled by undercover FBI agents who gained the trust of Ferdaus by posing as Al Qaeda members. Prior to sharing the bomb plans, Ferdaus built IED detonators out of cellphones, which he provided to the fake Al Qaeda members, who promised to transport them to Iraq for use against U.S. soldiers. When told in June 2011 that one of his triggers had successfully killed three soldiers and maimed five others, Ferdaus told the agents, “That was exactly what I wanted.”
Ferdaus was charged with two counts of attempting to damage or destroy federal property and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
One Rezwan Ferdaus, believed to be the accused man, once played drums for a Massachusetts-based band called Goosepimp Orchestra, according to a cached version of the band’s website. The band seems to have promptly removed mentions of Ferdaus from the site, but a Google capture from Sept. 19th shows Ferdaus was a member in 2004.
