WASHINGTON – A Pakistani-American man was sentenced Monday to 23 years in prison for plotting attacks on subway stations around the US capital with people he believed were al-Qaeda affiliates. Farooque Ahmed, a naturalized US citizen who lived in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, admitted photographing stations in 2010 to plan simultaneous bomb attacks. The 35-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack, US officials said.
A federal judge also sentenced Ahmed to 50 years of supervised release after prison, as part of a plea agreement between Ahmed’s lawyers and prosecutors.
Ahmed was caught in a sting operation by US authorities, who said that “at no time was the public in danger during this investigation and that the FBI was aware of Ahmed’s activities from before the alleged attempt began and closely monitored his activities until his arrest.”
