DHAKA: Bangladeshi police said they were investigating whether a Bangladeshi man charged with trying to blow up the Federal Reserve building in New York had connections with radical groups in Bangladesh.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police official Monirul Islam said detectives would visit North South University in Dhaka on Saturday where Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis studied before going to the United States. They would interview teachers, classmates and school officials.

Detectives had already visited Nafis' village, where they found no evidence of his ties with radical groups.

Nafis was arrested Wednesday in an FBI sting operation. A criminal complaint said he had made several attempts to blow up a fake 1,000-pound car bomb near the Federal Reserve.

Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir assured the US government that Bangladesh would assist it in investigating Nafis.