"Awais Chudhary had accepted the call from ISIS [Daesh] to kill fellow New Yorkers in the city he called home", New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said in the release. "He had carefully planned, conducted reconnaissance, picked a target, and was in the process of obtaining the weapon. All he has left to do was to strike".
Chudhary identified the pedestrian bridges near the site of the 1964 World’s Fair as his target, the release said.
On 23 August, Chudhary told an undercover agent that he intended to use a knife but would consider bombing a "mini-bridge over a busy road with many cars" if the agent told him how to make an explosive, the release said.
Between 25 August and 26 August, Chudhary ordered online a tactical knife, a mask, gloves, and a cellphone chest and head strap to record the attack, the release added.
Chudhary was arrested on Thursday and made his initial court appearance on Friday before US Magistrate Judge James Orenstein, who ordered the defendant held without bail, according to the release.
*Daesh (Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL, IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other states.
