A citizen of Bangladesh living outside Washington, D.C., has been charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State and plotting to kill a U.S. service member, according to a Justice Department press release issued Monday.
Nelash Mohamed Das, a legal permanent resident living in Hyattsville, Md., had planned to murder a member of the U.S. military, according to the federal criminal complaint filed Saturday.
“Our goal is to catch dangerous suspects before they strike, while respecting constitutional rights,” U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein for the District of Maryland said in a statement. “That is what the American people expect of the Justice Department, and that is what we aim to deliver.”
The 24-year-old arrived in the U.S. in 1995 when he was a child. He first came under the FBI’s radar last September for saying on social media that he supports ISIS, and praising terrorist attacks in Paris, France, and San Bernardino, Calif.
Last October, Das tweeted the name of an individual who planned to join the U.S. military, telling his followers this person “aspires to kill Muslims.” The individual’s personal information was also posted on social media to give anyone interested in attacking the potential victim the means to do so.
Then in January, Das tweeted a picture of an AK-47 assault rifle with the phrase, “This is more than just a gun. This is a ticket to Jannah,” a reference to the Quran’s post-life paradise.
By April, the FBI was aware that the suspect attended a Handgun Qualification License class at a firing range in Prince George’s County, Md. He had told a classmate he wanted to purchase a Glock 9mm handgun and an AK-47. Das regularly practiced shooting at the range and also submitted his fingerprints to get a license.
Das met with an undercover FBI agent in May. He allegedly told the informant he had relationships with ISIS members overseas and wanted to kill a specific U.S. service member whose personal information had been hacked and published online. The undercover agent said he had connections to ISIS and could get Das two guns. He later gave Das guns that the FBI had rendered inactive, but Das was unaware of that at the time.
In late September, Das and the FBI agent drove to a firearms store in Virginia. Das purchased ammunition for his 9mm and .40 caliber firearms. The agent had given Das information about the military member he had wanted to kill, but the information was inaccurate in order to protect the person’s life while leading on the suspect.
Das and the informant made it all the way to where the FBI had told him the service member lived. Das allegedly loaded his guns with the ammunition and sent a text to someone he thought was a member of ISIS saying, “I’m ready.” He got out of the vehicle and federal agents approached him. Das ran, but was apprehended by the FBI.
The suspect was ordered detained pending a detention hearing on Oct. 6.
