CINCINNATI, OHIO- An Ohio man was convicted of one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS and ISIS-K, the Justice Department announced on Monday.
Naser Almadaoji, a 22-year-old Iraqi born man purchased a plane ticket for Oct 24, 2018, and was arrested by authorities after he checked in for his flight and obtained his boarding pass, the DOJ said according to the Daily Caller.
He had planned to fly to Kazakhstan, where the plan was to smuggle him into Afghanistan where he would be trained by ISIS-K, officials said.
Almadaoji told investigators he wanted “weapons experts training, planning and executing, hit and run, capturing high value targets, and ways to burglarize homes while evading security guards from someone he believed to be an ISIS supporter,” the DOJ said.
Between Feb. 16 and 29, 2018, Almadaoji had traveled to Egypt and Jordan for the purpose of joining ISIS’s affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula, ISIS Wilayat Sinai, a designated foreign terrorist organization, however, was unsuccessful.
Almadaoji told an informant posing as an ISIS supporter online about his proposed plot to start a conflict in the United States between the federal government and anti-government militias. He asked the informant for instructions on how to manufacture a car bomb.
In August of that same year, Almadaoji told the purported ISIS supporter he was “always willing” to assist with “projects” in the United States. Almadaoji went as far as to record and send a video of himself wearing a headscarf and pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIS.
Almadaoji is expected to be sentenced on Jan. 31, 2022, facing a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
The arrest affidavit said that Almadaoji pledged allegiance to the terrorist organization, and told the believed ISIS contact that he wanted to cause the collapse of the U.S. through he conflict between the government ant the militia group.
ISIS-K is an affiliate of ISIS which first rose to prominence in Pakistan around 2015 and is comprised of militants from other Pakistani groups, including the Taliban, CBS News reported. ISIS-K, as opposed to the Taliban generally believe that group is “impure” and not extremist enough; the “K” stands for the Khorasan province in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“This is now the second person from the Dayton area held accountable in recent times for trying to join ISIS,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Vipal J. Patel. “Whatever grievances might exist without government, our country, or our way of life, violence is not the answer.”
Providing material support in whatever form—personnel, services, funding or otherwise—to designated foreign terrorist groups simply begets more terror, and every effort will be made to hold accountable those who provide such support.”
FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge J. William Rivers praised the investigative team for their diligence, Shore News Network said.
“This case is another example of how the agents and officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Force continue to work each day to protect the community and disrupt those intent on aiding and supporting terrorist groups,” Rivers said.
“The task force brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to expertly investigate developing threats and those who may be focused on violence.”
For more on ISIS-K, we invite you to read our prior report:
DIG DEEPER
According to a report from CNN, the ISIS-K suicide bomber responsible for the attack in Kabul that killed 13 American servicemembers had been released from a prison near Kabul mere days earlier from the August attack.
President Biden's botched withdrawal from #Afghanistan caused dangerous prisoners to be released from Bagram Air Base.
His failures cost 13 Americans their lives.https://t.co/fNTdo3RGe7
— Representative Lisa McClain (@RepLisaMcClain) October 6, 2021
As more details emerge regarding the botched aspects of the Afghanistan withdrawal from this past summer, CNN reported on October 6th that the suicide bombing that ISIS-K took credit for in late August was carried out by an inmate who’d been released from the Parwan prison at Bagram air base after the Taliban took control of the area.
The United States reportedly controlled the base until early July, after troops that were manning the base were pulled.
While Afghan authorities have been in control of the prison located on the base since 2013, Afghan forces surrendered the base – and thus prison as well – to the Taliban in August.
Two U.S. officials, along with Rep. Ken Calvert, a California Republican who claimed to have been briefed by national security officials, confirmed that the ISIS-K suicide bomber came from the Parwan prison at Bagram air base.
Apparently the Parwan prison, as well as the Pul-e-Charkhi prison not far from Kabul, housed hundreds of ISIS-K members, which were overtaken in the hours before the Taliban made their way over to the capital.
The Taliban freed all of the prisoners from both facilities after taking them over, which then set the stage for the ISIS-K suicide bomber to be free and carry out the attack that killed the 13 servicemembers and dozens of Afghans 11 days later.
Considering the fact that an ISIS-K terrorist went from a prison inmate to a suicide bomber in an 11-day period, there are serious concerns that said act could be just the tip of the iceberg for potential terrorist threats in the future.
CNN reports that "hundreds" of ISIS K prisoners were potentially released from Bagram, including the suicide bomber behind the airport attack, when the Taliban took over:
"The doors had been opened and the prisoners had been freed." pic.twitter.com/PDgQ8833RW
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 6, 2021
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley claimed that while the threat from Afghanistan at this time is lower than it was after the 9/11 attack, that could very well change in in a matter of months:
“It’s a real possibility in the not too distant future – six,12, 18, 24, 36 months that kind of timeframe — for reconstitution of al Qaeda or ISIS… and it’s our job now, under different conditions, to protect the American citizens against attacks from Afghanistan.”
Rep. Calvert, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense, called the withdrawal from Afghanistan “disastrous” and that it “led to a series of events that culminated with the tragic loss of life on August 26th outside of the Kabul airport. Thirteen Americans, including one of my constituents, were killed because of the poor judgement and execution of our troop withdrawal.”
US left Afghan airfield at night, didn't tell new commander https://t.co/KF8Vd8Fuwo
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) August 20, 2021
Back in July, when troops were pulled from Bagram, an Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman told CNN that of the 5,000 prisoners held at the airbase’s prison, most of them were terrorists.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the abandoning of Bagram during Capitol Hill hearings in late September, saying defending the base and prison “would have contributed little” to exiting the country:
“Retaining Bagram would have required putting as many as five thousand U.S. troops in harm’s way, just to operate and defend it. And it would have contributed little to the mission that we had been assigned, and that was to protect and defend our embassy which was some 30 miles away.
Staying at Bagram – even for counter- terrorism purposes – meant staying at war in Afghanistan, something that the President made clear that he would not do.”
Rep. Mullin attributes deaths of 2 and 3-year-old American toddlers to botched Afghanistan withdrawal
(Originally published October 3rd, 2021)
According to a recent report from Breitbart News, Republican Rep. Markwayne Mullin attributed the deaths of two American children, ages 2 and 3, to the ostensibly botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Exclusive — Rep. Mullin Reports 2- and 3-Year-Old Americans Died in Afghanistan Due to Biden's Regime Withdrawal… DoG https://t.co/pbh9ZdbuBc
— Dog (@u2biker) October 3, 2021
Rep. Mullin, whose team is working directly on the ground to rescue trapped Americans in Afghanistan, told Breitbart News that a 2-year-old American and a 3-year-old American died in Afghanistan as a result of the Biden administration’s ill-executed departure from the nation.
The Oklahoma representative, who has personally traveled to Afghanistan, has collaborated with his team in efforts to help evacuate stranded American citizens and legal permanent residents (LPRs) from Afghanistan, following the country’s reversion back to Taliban control.
Rep. Mullin claimed that the Biden administration’s failure to assist his team in those efforts resulted in senseless losses of life – while highlighting how largely unreported casualties are being shared by the Biden administration.
He detailed what his team is doing in Afghanistan, trying to get the individuals left behind out of the country and to safety, claiming that several people informed him the State Department had no plans on assisting them in their efforts:
“So we put a team together real quick…We had arranged to get them even outside the airport.”
One aspect that was not well conveyed through media outlets during the Afghanistan exit was how difficult it was for some to even reach the airport in Kabul due to Taliban checkpoints, with Rep. Mullin saying these checkpoints were “charging between $500 to $1000 to go through”:
“So even to get to the airport for one person, it was $1,500 at the minimum. And you’re talking about a country that didn’t have any banking system.”
Rep. Mullin said that his team created a sort of de facto underground railroad to facilitate travel through Afghanistan for those seeking to flee the country – often bringing evacuees to nearby countries:
“I mean yesterday, we got three Americans out and four Brits. The day before that, we got a couple.”
However, with the successes Rep. Mullin has had with said efforts, there have been losses that weigh heavy on him – including the deaths of a 3-year-old girl and 2-year-old boy:
“The news isn’t reporting it. For instance, we had a 3-year-old girl, that had a severe infection in her legs, and we tried to get her out. We had her in Kabul. We tried to get her out through the airport there…Her parents were LPRs, they’re legal permanent residents of the United States, which means they’re our responsibility.”
According to Rep. Mullin, the State Department refused to take the family because they were LPRs:
“And when we realized they weren’t going to let her go through, we took her out on the 31st of August…and started driving her and her family across Afghanistan.”
When Rep. Mullin said the family made it to the border of Tajikistan, an ambassador informed him that “Washington” had sent orders for them to not assist Rep. Mullin in “any way”:
“And I said ‘excuse me? You can’t — I’m an American citizen.’ Because he said I wasn’t traveling officially. And I said I know, I’m traveling on a blue passport. I’m not here officially. I’m not here in my official capacity but I’m trying to get somebody, I’m trying to get an American out of a war zone, a war area who needs medical attention. You’re telling me someone from Washington told you not to assist me. Who was it? He said, ‘I can’t tell you that.’”
Rep. Mullin said that he informed the ambassador “then next time you’re going to hear from me is going to be in another capacity” – a threat that the representative said would only hold water if Republicans take back the House:
“So we may have to wait 15 months, but we’re going to find out.”
The young girl passed days after Rep. Mullin arrived at the Tajikistan border, a death he said that could’ve been prevented:
“Because they wouldn’t help us get her out, September 10, she passed away from septic… A 3-year-old girl. That was eight days before that that we could have got her out. And she passed away from septic and her parents had to watch her while we could have got her out.”
According to Rep. Mullin, the family of the deceased girl now want nothing to do with the United States because “they feel like we abandoned their child which we did. Not us, not the guys down there working, but the United States because we could have got her out.”
The congressman also noted that the suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 13 U.S. servicemembers also resulted a 2-year-old boy and his mother being killed at the gate:
“And the State Department hasn’t reported that they were killed at the gate.”
Rep. Mullin claimed that CNN reported on the two deaths, but CNN reported that they were killed in a rocket attack, an assertion that Rep. Mullin called “a lie”:
“Everyone one of these could have got out. It wasn’t like maybe. We could have got them out. We’re getting people out, and we could have got them out. It wasn’t like maybe. We had them in a position to get them out, and the State Department failed to help us…All they had to do was literally allow them to come in the gate, and we couldn’t get them permission to come in the gate.”
The congressmen added that the Biden administration is “not being transparent” regarding what unfolded in Afghanistan:
“They’re not telling the truth of what’s happening. They’re not even telling the truth about why they pulled out on the 30th.”
Currently, Rep. Mullin says his team is still working on getting 65 Americans and LPRs out of Afghanistan.
—
Editor note: In 2020, we saw a nationwide push to “defund the police”. While we all stood here shaking our heads wondering if these people were serious… they cut billions of dollars in funding for police officers. And as a result, crime has skyrocketed – all while the same politicians who said “you don’t need guns, the government will protect you” continued their attacks on both our police officers and our Second Amendment rights.
And that’s exactly why we’re launching this national crowdfunding campaign as part of our efforts to help “re-fund the police”.
For those looking for a quick link to get in the fight and support the cause, click here.
—
Want to make sure you never miss a story from Law Enforcement Today? With so much “stuff” happening in the world on social media, it’s easy for things to get lost.
