A Pakistani man who received commando training from Islamist militants before moving to a Washington suburb has been arrested and charged with providing support to a terror group, US officials said Friday. Jubair Ahmad, 24, stands accused of providing material support to the powerful Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization, and then lying about his involvement to investigators.
According to an unsealed affidavit by a Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent, Ahmad produced and posted a propaganda video for LeT “glorifying violent jihad” in 2010, some three years after he arrived in the United States with his parents and two younger brothers. “Terrorist organizations such as LeT, and movements affiliated with them, use the Internet and other media as part of well orchestrated propaganda campaigns,” the agent stated in the affidavit released by the US Justice Department. “These campaigns seek to recruit individuals to participate in violent jihad and to promote the spread of terror.”
Ahmad faces up to 23 years in prison if convicted on the two charges. The department said the FBI had been investigating Ahmad, a legal permanent resident living in the state of Virginia, since 2009, after receiving information that the man might be linked to LeT.
