Authorities are releasing details in the case of an Indiana teenager who was arrested for trying to join ISIS
Akram I. Musleh long sought to join ISIS, federal court documents allege, hoping to travel overseas to join the terrorism group as a fighter.
The Brownsburg teenager’s alleged involvement began on social media in 2013, according to court documents, when he posted videos of terrorist leaders. FBI agents spoke with Musleh back then, hoping to prevent him from pursuing extremism. The teen told investigators he posted those videos simply to understand Islam’s history.
His activity grew more alarming when Musleh, 18, snapped pictures of himself standing in front of a flag associated with ISIS and asked young people in a Brownsburg park if they wanted to join ISIS. He also researched potential terror targets in Indiana and how to create explosives, court documents say, and started communicating with suspected members of ISIS.
In at least one online conversation with a suspected ISIS member, according to court documents, Musleh was urged to carry out attacks against members of the U.S. military in Florida.
Musleh attempted to leave the country on several occasions to join ISIS, only to have his travel plans fall through, court documents say. On Tuesday, Musleh’s latest attempt ended at the Greyhound station in Downtown Indianapolis.
FBI agents arrested him on a charge of material support of terrorism. They also searched the teen’s home in the Brownsburg Pointe apartment complex.
If convicted, Musleh faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, according to a Justice Department news release.
It sounds like he might have been planning a “Boston Bombing” style attack:
In April 2016, Musleh purchased a one-way ticket from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Morocco, court documents said. That’s when he also purchased his Greyhound bus ticket to travel from Indianapolis to New York.
About a month after buying his plane and bus tickets, Musleh viewed a news article about an Indiana Department of Homeland Security list of about 8,500 potential terror targets in Indiana, court documents said.
Around that same time, he researched explosive materials online. He also was seen shopping for pressure cookers by an FBI agent in a Wal-Mart in Brownsburg. Court documents state that pressure cookers are used as a component in some improvised explosive devices.
In the days after making his travel plans, according to records, Musleh held a conversation through social media expressing his desire to travel to join ISIS.
Pretty frightening. And it makes you wonder how many others are waiting for their opportunity to slaughter Americans like that maggot in Orlando.
It must also be pointed out that there is no evidence yet of his trying to obtain guns – plenty of damage could be done with pressure cooker bombs.