South Florida Resident Arrested for Attempting to Bomb a U.S. Business Located in New York City

MIAMI - Harun Abdul-Malik Yener, 30, of Coral Springs, Fla., was arrested today based on a criminal complaint charging him with attempt to use an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce.

Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; and Jeffrey Veltri, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

According to court documents, the FBI initiated an investigation into Yener in February after receiving a tip that he was storing bombmaking schematics in an unlocked storage unit. 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 uncovered multiple internet searches from Yener's Google account for aspects of bombmaking since as early as 2017.

In June, Yener told an FBI confidential source of his desire to join an anti-government militia and to construct an explosive device. After meeting an FBI undercover employee, whom Yener believed to be part of a militia, Yener indicated he wanted to target a U.S. business located in New York City the week before Thanksgiving. His stated motivation for bombing the business was to attain a "reboot" and/or "reset" of the United States government. Yener constructed a remote-trigger for the explosive device and conducted research on where to plant the bomb. Yener tasked FBI undercover employees with procuring the explosive element for the device, conducting surveillance of the business, and obtaining photos of the building to identify the precise location for detonating the explosive device. Yener planned on wearing a disguise when planting the explosive device outside the business and recorded a message to be delivered to the press about his reasons for the attack. Yener anticipated the impact of the explosion would be "like a small nuke went off" and that "[a]nything outside" the building "will be wiped out" and "anything inside there would be killed."

Yener had his initial appearance this afternoon and stipulated to pretrial detention with the right to request a hearing at a later date.

The FBI investigated the case with assistance from the Coral Springs Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Thakur and Abbie D. Waxman of the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Elisa Poteat of the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 24-mj-04432.

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