Quazi Nafis: Mysteries Surround Would-Be Fed Reserve Bomber

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, the 21-year-old Bangladeshi man arrested by the FBI and NYPD for allegedly seeking to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, comes from an affluent family.

According to BDNews24.com, an English-language news outlet in Bangladesh, Nafis’ father is Quazi Mohammad Ahsanullah, a vice president of the country’s privately owned National Bank Ltd.

Nafis family’s three-story residence in the well-to-do Jatrabari neighborhood of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city, was raided by police detectives shortly after his arrest in New York was announced.

Nafis traveled to the U.S. in January 2012 -- FBI officials claim he moved to the country specifically to carry out terror attacks, not to pursue higher education.

Nafis’ father refuses to believe his son is guilty and suggests he was framed. His son, who was reportedly studying business administration in the U.S., faces life in prison if convicted. Nafis also studied cyber-security at a small college in Missouri before transferring to a school in New York.

"My son couldn't have done it," his father told the Associated Press. "He is very gentle and devoted to his studies."

Nafis’ sister Sariel Bilkis suggested: "My brother may have been a victim of a conspiracy.”

Dhaka Deputy Police Commissioner Monirul Islam told bdnews24.com that Nafis was formerly a student of the North South University as well as Dhaka College.

A source at North South University, spokesman Belal Ahmed presented a negative picture of Nafis -- that he was a poor student who was put on probation and threatened with expulsion.

Islam also said that his department will investigate if Nafis had any connections to terror groups while living in Bangladesh.

The Weekly Blitz, a Bangladeshi tabloid, has reported that jihadist groups -- like Hizbut Tahrir and Hizb Ut Towhid -- are actively seeking to recruit converts at Bangladeshi universities.

Hizbut Tahrir -- which is a global organization -- was banned in Bangladesh in October 2009 for "unleashing destructive activities." Bangladesh military officials arrested leaders of the group in January 2012 after what they claimed was a failed coup attempt to topple the government.

Hizb Ut Towhid was outlawed in Bangladesh just last month.

Separately, there seems to be some confusion over Nafis’ true identity.

The director-general of the Bangladesh foreign ministry in the U.S., Mahfuzur Rahman, said in a statement: “We are trying to confirm Nafis' identity. [The] Bangladesh embassy will seek consulate access if it is confirmed that Nafis is a Bangladeshi citizen.”

“Consulate access” means that if Nafis is confirmed to be a Bangladeshi national, a diplomat would be engaged to meet with the suspect in person.

Bangladesh's ambassador to Washington, Akramul Quader, seemed to quash the notion that Nafis was even a citizen of his country.

"Bangladesh's name is everywhere in the media now,” he told bdnews24.com.

"At first, we'll have to be sure about [Nafis’] citizenship. He may not be a Bangladeshi, despite carrying a Bangladeshi passport. Rohingyas [Muslims from Myanmar] are also collecting Bangladeshi passports.”