https://arab.news/jqhhk
- Daesh, an ultraviolent transnational militant group, has claimed some of the bloodiest attacks in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan
- A UN report says the group still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members, and poses the most serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: A United States (US) court has sentenced a Pakistani doctor to nearly 18 years in prison for attempting to provide “material support” to Daesh, according to the US Justice Department.
Muhammad Masood, 31, a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was formerly employed as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, according to court documents.
Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood used an encrypted messaging application to facilitate his travel overseas to join a militant group and made multiple statements about his desire to join Daesh and pledged allegiance to its leader.
“Masood also expressed his desire to conduct ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attacks in the United States,” the Justice Department said in a statement this week.
In February 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois to Amman, Jordan and from there planned to travel to Syria, but his travel plans changed in March 2020 because Jordan had closed its borders to incoming travelers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Masood then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he believed would assist him with travel via cargo ship to deliver him to Daesh territory, according to the statement.
On March 19, 2020, he traveled from Rochester to Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California. Upon arrival at MSP, Masood checked in for his flight and was subsequently arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty on August 16, 2022 to “attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization,” according to the Justice Department. He was subsequently sentenced by Senior Judge Paul A. Magnuson on Friday, August 25.
Daesh, an ultraviolent transnational militant group, has claimed some of the bloodiest attacks in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries. The group still commands between 5,000 and 7,000 members across its former stronghold in Syria and Iraq and its fighters pose the most serious terrorist threat in Afghanistan, a UN report said this month.
Masood’s sentencing comes a week after Pakistani police apprehended 13 individuals in the Punjab province, who were suspected to have ties with various proscribed organizations, including Daesh and Al-Qaeda.
The arrested militants were captured as a result of 55 intelligence-based operations carried out across the province, according to the Punjab police’s counter-terrorism department (CTD).
A total of 58 individuals had been subjected to comprehensive interrogation. Subsequently, 13 of them were taken into custody, following the confiscation of explosive materials and other contraband items found in their possession.
“The arrested terrorists … belong to banned organizations [including] the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Daesh, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, and Al-Qaeda,” the CTD said in a statement.
“The apprehension of these alleged terrorists was carried out during intelligence-based operations in Lahore, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Rawalpindi, Chiniot, Kasur, and Multan.”
The suspected militants were planning to target important installations in Punjab, according to the CTD.