DHAKA: The family of a Bangladeshi man accused of trying to blow up the New York Federal Reserve spoke of their distress Thursday, describing him as a devout Muslim and denying he had shown radical tendencies.(The Independent)

Speaking from the family's home in Dhaka, a relative of Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis said they had spoken to him only hours before his arrest on Wednesday and even discussed a possible bride for him.

"We heard the news this morning. Everyone is crying here," the 21-year-old's brother-in-law, who would only give his first name Arik, told AFP.

"Nafis never showed any form of radicalisation when he was in Bangladesh. He said prayers five times a day and used to read the holy Koran every day."

The relative said that Nafis had moved to the United States last year with one of his uncles and had originally gone to study at a university in Missouri but he later moved to New York.

Nafis was arrested in Manhattan next to the Federal Reserve building after he tried to detonate what he thought was a live bomb, but was actually a dummy provided in a sting operation, according to US federal prosecutors.

He traveled to the US "for the purpose of conducting a terrorist attack on US soil", prosecutors said. He allegedly wrote a statement claiming responsibility for his planned attack in which he said he wanted to "destroy America", and referred to slain Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden as "beloved".

The family, who live in the middle-class North Jatrabari neighbourhood of Dhaka, remained in regular touch with Nafis during his time in the United States, the relative added.

"We even talked to him last night and told him that we're looking for a bride for him. He did not mind," he said.

Before moving abroad, Nafis had been studying electrical engineering at the Dhaka-based North South University, according to a spokesman at the university.