A New York man has been sentenced to 108 months in prison after he attempted to provide support to ISIS and plot an attack.
Court documents explain that Awais Chudhary, 25, pledged allegiance to ISIS’s then-leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and began to plan a knife or bomb attack. He sought to carry out the attack at specific locations such as pedestrian bridges over the Grand Central Parkway and the Flushing Bay Promenade.
Chudhary sought direction from those he believed to support ISIS regarding which type of knife to use and how to evade law enforcement. He was arrested while going to retrieve materials he planned to use in the attack.
“Awais Chudhary pledged allegiance to a brutal terrorist organization and set out to kill American citizens,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Our prosecutors have ensured that he will spend years behind bars for his crimes, and the Department of Justice will continue to protect the American people from all threats foreign and domestic.”
Similarly, a man from Stockton, California, was arrested in June after attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
Ammaad Akhtar had been communicating online with a law enforcement-controlled individual since February, the DOJ explained, noting that the man believed the individual was a member of ISIS. During conversations, Akhtar voiced his support for the terrorist entity and jihad, describing his desire to fight alongside the group.
Akhtar discussed plans for violence, conducting an attack, and using homemade explosives, saying he wanted to “die in the cause of Allah fighting the kuffar [infidels].”
