An Ohio man pleaded guilty Friday to one count of attempting to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations.
The man hoped to join and train with the Islamic State and its affiliate ISIS-K, according to the Department of Justice.
Naser Almadaoji, 22, purchased a ticket to fly to Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018, hoping to be smuggled into Afghanistan, according to court documents. However, he was arrested before his flight out of the Columbus airport.
Almadaoji told someone he thought was an ISIS supporter that he wanted training in “weapons experts training, planning and executing, hit and run, capturing high value targets, and ways to break into homes and avoid security guards,” the DOJ said. The person was actually an FBI informant.
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Almadaoji told his informant that he wanted to start a war between the federal government and the anti-government militias, and he also said he was “always willing” to work on any projects in the United States, according to the DOJ.
Almadaoji had already traveled to Egypt and Jordan to join an ISIS affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula, but he was unsuccessful at joining, the DOJ said.
Almadaoji is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 31, 2022, by a federal district court judge. Almadaoji faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
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A different man from Toledo, Ohio, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison last month after pleading guilty to the same charge and attempting to commit a hate crime. The man was planning an attack on a Toledo synagogue, according to the DOJ.
