Detectives in Dhaka have launched a probe to establish whether a Bangladeshi man, accused of plotting to bomb the Federal Reserve Building in New York, had links to Islamic militants in Bangladesh. Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, 21, was arrested by the FBI in a ‘sting operation’ on Wednesday and faces criminal charges of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and of attempting to provide material support to al-Qaeda. A criminal complaint filed in New York said that Nafis, who arrived in the United States as a student in January, sought out people on the internet to set up a terror cell in the US. It also said he was in contact with al-Qaeda members overseas. Dhaka police say they are trying to find out whether any of these alleged contacts are in Bangladesh. A senior officer in Dhaka criticized US authorities for keeping them in the dark over the case. “We launched the probe as soon as we heard about the arrest from media reports. US officials and police didn’t tell us anything at all,” said Monirul Islam, a deputy police commissioner. He said they are taking a possible link with militants in Bangladesh seriously and reported that Nafis’s parents had been detained for questioning. Nafis’s father Quazi Ahsanullah earlier dismissed the allegations against his son, calling them a racist “conspiracy.” "He is completely innocent. He went to the United States only to study, not to do this kind of activity. He is my only son. It is a conspiracy," the BBC quoted Ahsanullah as saying. The FBI alleges that Nafis was arrested while driving a van to the Federal Reserve which was packed with fake explosives given to him by an undercover agent. His father claimed that Nafis cannot drive.