Ohio man accused of planning terrorist training trip to Middle East
The Iraqi-born U.S. citizen has been charged with attempting to provide material support to an ISIS-affiliated foreign terrorist organization.
CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - An Ohio man has been arrested on allegations that he intended on traveling to Afghanistan to train for terrorist-related activities with an Islamic State group.
Naser Almadaoji, a 19-year-old who resides in a suburb of Dayton, was arrested on Wednesday in Columbus at John Glenn International Airport.
“This is the third individual arrested by the FBI on terrorism charges in just over a week. As demonstrated by these arrests -- two in Ohio and one in Illinois -- the threat posed by terrorism remains extremely serious,” said Assistant Director Michael Garrity of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division.
According to the Department of Justice, Almadaoji arranged to travel through Kazakhstan and Afghanistan to train with a group called ISIS Wilaya Khorasan.
Almadaoji explained to an individual who he believed to be in contact with ISIS that he wanted “weapons experts training, planning, executing, hit and run, capturing high value targets, ways to break into homes and avoid security guards.
The Iraqi-born U.S. citizen has been charged with attempting to provide material support to an ISIS-affiliated foreign terrorist organization.The federal crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The DOJ says Almadaoji also tried to join a terrorist group in Egypt and Jordan in February, but was unsuccessful.
Almadaoji was booked at the Montgomery County Jail.
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