A citizen of Bangladesh who was living in Maryland has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State group.
A citizen of Bangladesh who was living in Maryland has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State group.
A court document said that 24-year-old Nelash Mohamed Das of Hyattsville was ready to carry out what he thought was an attack on a member of the US military when he was arrested Friday. The alleged attack was set up by a confidential informant for the FBI. Das, a legal permanent resident of the United States, made his first appearance in federal court Monday. He has been ordered held until a detention hearing Thursday. Online court records did not list an attorney for him, though a spokeswoman for the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland said Das had been assigned a public defender.
If convicted, Das faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Das voiced support on his social media accounts for Islamic State from late 2015 to early 2016, including support for attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, and had taken a class and submitted fingerprints in order to get a handgun permit, according to court documents filed in his case. He told a confidential informant for the FBI that he wanted to kill US military personnel, added the court documents. Conducting an attack is “like my goal in life” Das allegedly told the informant.
Das met the FBI's confidential informant in May 2016 and thought he was a like-minded supporter of the Islamic State group, said the court documents.
