Overview
New details emerged December 18th regarding the case against Pakistani brothers Raees Qazi (20) and Sheheryar Qazi (30). Prosecutors allege Raees used a bicycle to travel around New York City in late November 2012 to scout locations for a potential attack site. Ultimately, Raees did not choose a target and returned to Florida. It appears he was having difficulty financing the operation. The four days he was in New York, Raees slept in an unidentified mosque, restaurant and on public transportation before returning to Florida by bus after depleting his financial resources. Federal authorities apprehended the brothers two days after Raees returned home.
After arresting the brothers, authorities searched the home of Raees. They recovered a laptop which showed Raees researched ingredients to make a shoe bomb, including PETN. Authorities also found an article from the Al Qaeda publication, Inspire, which provided directions on assembling an explosive device using Christmas lights. Also in the apartment were a stripped Christmas light wire, batteries taped together and parts to a remote control car which authorities said could be used to create a remotely detonated explosive device.
Key Points
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While in New York City, Raees inquired about the size of crowds on Wall Street, Times Square and unspecified areas in the theater district.
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The goal of terror attack(s) was to avenge the death from U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan.
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Raees intended to carry out this attack, while his older brother provided material and emotional support, referring to his brother as a “lone wolf.”
Implications
As noted in MSA’s prior analysis of the incident, terrorists often to draw on previous events to plan future attacks. The potential target locations in this situation are typical of past New York City terror plots which were designed to cause mass casualties. Additionally, Raees most likely intended to use PETN in the attack. PETN is a malleable, high explosive that is considered to be more stable than other high explosives and is therefore a reliable “explosive of choice” for terrorist operatives. PETN was the explosive used by Richard Reid, the “Shoe Bomber,” in 2001. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) attempted to use PETN for two of their plots; the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot and the 2010 Cargo Bomb plot.