FBI: No foreign terror links in Florida mall bomb plot

Author: AP
Published:
Shoppers are seen at the entrance to the Dolphin Mall in Miami, on Thu., March 1, 2001. (Photo via CBS/AP)

MIAMI (AP) The FBI says no evidence has surfaced of links to foreign extremists in an alleged plot by a Honduran man to bomb a Florida mall despite his claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group.

An FBI agent testified at a bail hearing Thursday that 53-year-old Vicente Adolfo Solano appears to have come up with the idea on his own.

Solano then allegedly plotted with an FBI confidential informant to bomb the busy food court at the Miami-area Dolphin Mall. Solano was arrested last Friday after accepting a fake bomb from undercover FBI operatives outside the mall.

A federal judge denied bail for Solano at the hearing. He faces life in prison if convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He has not entered a plea.

MORE: FBI sting foils alleged plot to bomb Miami-Dade County mall

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