Police Arrest Woman Over New York Capitol Bombing Plot After Allegedly Buying Bomb Supplies In Burqa

Police arrested an Albany woman who swore loyalty to the terrorist group ISIS as she reached for what she thought was a live bomb meant to level the New York State Capitol.

Read more Virginia Football’s Solomon Beebe Facing Animal Cruelty Charges After Allegedly Punching Dog: REPORT

Jessica Bowie, 35, faces a federal charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Agents took her into custody Aug. 19 as she took possession of a device she believed would explode. She appeared in federal court the following day in the Northern District of New York.

Bowie plotted the strike between July 16 and Aug. 17, according to the criminal complaint. She scouted the Capitol grounds and photographed the building, which sits less than two miles from her home, telling investigators she wanted to hit while lawmakers were gathered. Bowie intended to disguise the explosive inside a DoorDash delivery bag to pass as a courier. (RELATED: 22-Year-Old Man Accused Of Supporting ISIS, Planning Attack In US)

The materials came from a Home Depot in Rensselaer, where Bowie took $200 from an FBI source and bought a plastic bin filled with nails Aug. 5, the complaint stated. The New York Post reported she wore a burqa during that purchase. She had adopted the name “Aisha Saif” after converting to Islam five years earlier, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors traced a trail of online declarations back to her. One account tied to Bowie posted, “Praise be to Allah for September 11th” and “When I can migrate, I will poison these infidels,” the Justice Department said. She also recorded a formal oath of allegiance to the group. Asked why she settled on the Capitol, Bowie said she wanted to “harm the enemies of god,” according to the complaint.

Read more AI Could Supercharge Biological Weapons ‘Ten Times’ Scale Of COVID, Report Warns

“I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting. I want them to lose a lot of important documents as well,” Bowie said, according to the Justice Department.

She planned to flee to Syria afterward and floated future strikes on Times Square and the White House, according to the complaint. Investigators said they recovered knives and a handwritten pledge after they arrested her.

Bowie had no prior criminal record, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss told reporters, according to the Times Union.

Read more Walmart Posts Slowest Sales Numbers In Years, Blames Iran War-Driven Gas Prices For Belt-Tightening