The man was caught in a sting operation in the Baltimore area and was plotting to blow up an Armed Forces recruiting station with what he believed to be a vehicle bomb, the US Attorney’s Office for Maryland said in a statement.
“There was no actual danger to the public as the explosives were inert and the suspect had been carefully monitored by law enforcement for months,” the statement said.
There was no evidence the plot was linked to recent shootings at military installations in the Washington area, authorities said.
The case appeared similar to a recent bomb plot in Portland, Oregon.
The day after Thanksgiving, a Somali-born teenager was arrested there after using a cell phone to try to detonate what he thought were explosives in a van, authorities said.
He thought he was going to bomb a crowded downtown Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.
Like the Baltimore County case, it turned out to be a dummy bomb plot put together by FBI agents. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested after authorities said he planned the details of the plot.
Mohamud allegedly believed he was receiving help from a larger ring of jihadists as he communicated with undercover agents.
The incidents are the latest in a string of alleged terrorist plans by US citizens or residents, including a Times Square plot in which a Pakistan-born man tried to set off a car bomb on a busy street. He pleaded guilty earlier this year.
