By Zack Sampson, News Staff
A 2008 Northeastern graduate accused of planning a terrorist attack on the US Capitol and the Pentagon has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, according to an agreement filed in court Tuesday.
Rezwan Ferdaus, who holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Northeastern, allegedly planned to fly remote-controlled aircraft packed with explosives into the Capitol and Pentagon. Ferdaus was arrested and indicted last September.
As part of the agreement, he will plead guilty to a charge of attempting to damage and destroy a federal building by means of an explosive and a charge of attempting to provide material support to terrorists.
According to the filing, prosecutors and the lawyers for Ferdaus have agreed that he should serve 17 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release. The two charges combined carry a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison.
Ferdaus, of Ashland, began planning a violent jihad against the United States in early 2010. He worked with two undercover FBI agents and a cooperating witness who he believed were al-Qaeda recruiters providing AK-47 assault rifles, grenades and plastic explosives. At various times, Ferdaus used the aliases Dave Winfield and Jon Ramos.
FBI Special Agent Gary S. Cacace wrote in an affidavit last fall that Ferdaus’ planned to fly two model airplanes, each packed with five pounds of plastic explosive, into opposite sides of the Pentagon. He also allegedly hoped to topple the US Capitol’s dome with another model plane.
After the aerial assault, Cacace wrote, Ferdaus intended to launch a six-man “ground directive” with automatic weapons. He allegedly enjoyed the prospect of shooting politicians and described the ground attack as a way to “open up” on people displaced by the model airplane explosions.
Ferdaus met with the undercover FBI personnel multiple times between January and September of 2011 as his plan developed. He provided the agents with cell phone detonators for improvised explosive devices that he believed were used to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.
“During a June 2011 meeting, he appeared gratified when he was told that his first phone detonation device had killed three US soldiers and injured four or five others in Iraq,” the US attorney’s office said in a statement at the time of Ferdaus’ arrest. “Ferdaus responded, ‘That was exactly what I wanted.’”
During their operation, Cacace wrote, FBI personnel gave Ferdaus multiple chances to back out of the terrorist plot. But Ferdaus confided that there was “no other choice” for him and he wanted to cause a large “psychological impact” by killing Americans, who he considered “enemies of Allah,” according to the US attorney’s statement last fall.
Initially, Ferdaus was also charged with attempting to damage and destroy national defense premises, receipt of explosive materials, receipt and possession of non-registered firearms, and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Those charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
While a student at Northeastern, Ferdaus helped found the Latin-influenced Goosepimp Orchestra in 2004. He was the band’s original drummer, and was known as “Bollywood.” Ferdaus’ biography was removed from the band’s website around the time of his arrest, but a cached copy had a description that said he left the band to become “a devout spiritual practitioner.”
A hearing for Ferdaus is scheduled for July 20.
