Bangladeshi immigrant charged with planning Times Square attack

A Bangladeshi immigrant, who allegedly heaped praise on the Islamic State group and Osama bin Laden, has been charged on Friday after he was accused of plotting a grenade attack on the bustling tourist-clogged Times Square in the U.S., authorities said.

Ashiqul Alam, 22, was arrested on Thursday after arranging through an undercover agent to buy a pair of semi-automatic pistols with obliterated serial numbers and surveilled the popular Manhattan district to identify the best place for the attack, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Alam who underwent an eye surgery to improve his vision was nervous about his eyeglasses falling off his face during the terror strike and creating an embarrassing debacle,” according to federal charging documents.