Akayed Ullah could be seen on footage in an underground tunnel walkway detonating a bomb on his person during morning rush hour December 11, 2017. Six people were injured in the blast. Ullah injured his hands and stomach.
The tunnel connects two subway lines beneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a major transit hub in Manhattan that accommodates 220,000 passenger trips a day.
The 31-year-old Bangladeshi man was convicted on six counts after a one-week trial in the Southern District of New York in 2018. Two of the charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction, carried a maximum sentence of life in prison.
On the morning of the lone-wolf bombing attack, shortly before detonating his bomb, Ullah posted a statement on Facebook referring to then-President Donald Trump.
“Trump you failed to protect your nation,” the post said.
Ullah also posted an ISIS slogan so that ISIS would know that he had carried out the attack on the terror group’s behalf, according to the criminal complaint.
According to authorities, the bomb was composed of a battery, wires, metal screws and a Christmas tree light bulb.
“Ullah’s motive was clear and unambiguous: a deeply held ideological hatred for America,” Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement Thursday. “Ironically, Ullah’s actions resulted only in reaffirming the greatness of America by displaying the fairness and impartiality for which our justice system stands. Ullah received a speedy, fair, public trial, and was convicted by a jury of his peers. Akayed Ullah’s message of hatred clearly backfired; his just sentence of life in prison only exemplifies that cowardly acts of terrorism will be met with law enforcement’s unwavering resolve to protect our core values of freedom and democracy.”
