Curated By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: August 26, 2023, 14:17 IST
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
Masood, the Pakistani doctor and former Mayo Clinic research coordinator who sought to join the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group to fight in Syria, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison. (Image: AP Photo)
Muhammad Masood thought he found two sources who would lead him to ISIS but he ended up contacting government informants.
Pakistani doctor Muhammad Masood who was working on an H-1B visa was sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIS/ISIL) and carry out “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States, news agency PTI reported.
The US Department of Justice said that even after spending 18 years in prison he will still remain under five years of supervised release. Masood pleaded guilty in August 2022 and senior judge Paul A. Magnuson presided over his case.
Masood was a licensed medical doctor from Pakistan and also served as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota under an H-1B visa.
He took help of an encrypted messaging application between January 2020 and March 2020 to facilitate a trip overseas to join the terrorist group. He expressed his desire to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and made multiple statements expressing his wish to travel outside the US.
Masood also pledged allegiance to the designated terrorist organisation and its leader.
Masood, according to a report by the New York Times, said he belonged to the frontline and wanted to be a combat medic.
He then expressed his wish to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States.
He purchased a flight ticket from Chicago, Illinois, to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria.
However, his plans changed because of the Covid-19 pandemic due to which Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel.
He then decided to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who, he believed, would assist him with travel via cargo ship to deliver him to ISIS territory. He travelled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California.
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested him upon arrival at MSP once he checked in for his flight. The people whom he had contacted were government informants.
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