A radicalized Queens man who plotted a terrorist assault on Massive Apple bridges and promenades on behalf of the Islamic State group in 2019 has been sentenced to 9 years in jail, based on authorities.
Awais Chudhary, 25, was handed the sentence by United States District Choose Carol Bagley Amon on Tuesday for trying to offer materials help to ISIS, a delegated overseas terrorist group, the US Lawyer’s Workplace, Jap District of New York introduced in a press release.
The terrorist wannabe pleaded responsible to the costs in June.
Chudhary, a Pakistan-born US citizen, turned radicalized by watching and sharing violent content material on-line, together with knife assaults and beheadings, for greater than 16 months whereas he was merely a braces-wearing teen residing together with his religious Muslim household.
He then pledged allegiance to ISIS’s then-leader, Abu Bakr al‑Baghdadi, and started to plan a knife or a bomb assault on behalf of the group, authorities mentioned.
Chudhary, who was 19 on the time, deliberate to strike on the Dunkin’ Donuts simply blocks from his East Elmhurst residence, pedestrian bridges over the Grand Central Parkway, the Flushing Bay Promenade, and the World’s Truthful Marina, prosecutors mentioned in court docket papers on the time.
He performed a number of reconnaissance journeys to the favored locations and made video recordings of the areas he meant to assault, authorities added.
The radicalized teen sought steerage from folks he believed to be ISIS supporters, asking them for recommendation on what knife to make use of and the way to keep away from being caught by legislation enforcement by not leaving “traces of fingerprints [or] DNA,” prosecutors mentioned.
He even despatched a screenshot of an ISIS propaganda journal, together with a diagram of a human physique depicting the place to stab victims with a knife.
In preparation for the deadly assaults, Chudhary ordered a tactical knife, a masks, gloves and a cellphone chest and head-strap to assist him document the assault.
He was arrested whereas trying to retrieve the objects from a web based retailer’s locker in Queens.
Chudhary additionally helped recruit English-speaking web customers to ISIS’s violent trigger, working with one other ISIS member — who was individually convicted of fabric help expenses — to translate the group’s propaganda supplies into English, authorities added.
“Awais Chudhary pledged allegiance to a brutal terrorist group and got down to kill Americans,” Lawyer Common Pam Bondi mentioned in a press release.
“Our prosecutors have ensured that he’ll spend years behind bars for his crimes, and the Division of Justice will proceed to guard the American folks from all threats, overseas and home,” Bondi mentioned.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch additionally thanked the justice system and investigators for halting the meant mass casualty.
“Awais Chudhary pledged allegiance to a overseas terrorist group, actively helped to recruit people to hitch ISIS, and deliberate to commit a mass knife assault in Queens,” NYPD Commissioner Tisch mentioned in a press release.
“Chudhary’s plan to trigger terror was stopped due to the men and women in legislation enforcement — and as we speak, our justice system is holding him accountable,” Tisch mentioned.
“I wish to thank our NYPD investigators in addition to our companions on the FBI and the US Lawyer’s Workplace for his or her work onerous work and dedication.”
with Put up wires
