Teen evades security to scale roof of New York's One World Trade Center building

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called the security breach 'shocking and troubling,' after the teen was able to sneak past guards

The One World Trade Center is set to open later this year (Joe Mabel/Flickr)

A 16-year-old boy climbed to the roof of the nearly completed one World Trade Center in New York after evading security at the site during the dead of night.

Justin Casquejo was arrested at 6am on Sunday for trespassing, US police said.

At over 500 metres high, the building, also dubbed the ‘Freedom Tower’, is the tallest in the western hemisphere. It occupies the site where the Twin Towers once stood.

A criminal complaint quoted Mr Casquejo as telling police: “I walked around the construction site and figured out how to access the Freedom Tower rooftop.

"I found a way up through the scaffolding, climbed onto the sixth floor, and took the elevator up to the 88th floor. I then took the staircase up to 104th (floor). I went to the rooftop and climbed the ladder all the way to the antenna."

After being arrested, the teen’s camera and phone were confiscated, a spokesman for the police department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. He was released without bail on Monday after being charged with one count of third-degree criminal trespass and one count of trespass.

The incident has raised questions over how such a breach could have happened at what is supposedly one of the most security-conscious sites in the world. New York’s mayor Bill de Blasio called the breach "shocking and troubling".

The guard that was posted on the 104th floor has been sacked the spokesperson said, adding that Mr Casquejo gained access to the site through a one-foot wide opening in a fence.

The young thrill seeker has a history of climbing building and cliffs and recently became interested in Parkour a neighbour told the Associate Press.

Following the escapade, Mr Casquejo tweeted the single word ‘inspired’.