Florida-based ISIS supporter Muhammad Momtaz Al-Azhari desires to hold out the capturing in Tampa, prosecutors say, with Seminole Laborious Rock On line casino on town’s record of potential targets. mentioned to have been included.
He was sentenced to 18 years in jail on Thursday after pleading responsible to offering weapons and cash to a jihadist terrorist group.
Al-Azhari was arrested by the FBI in Might 2020. Federal officers say he inspected a number of potential targets for deliberate atrocities within the Tampa space, together with Honeymoon Island, Bayshore Boulevard, and the FBI Tampa discipline workplace, along with Laborious Rock.
He allegedly informed FBI undercover brokers that he needed to kill “at the least 50” fellow Individuals and different “infidels,” together with his father, in response to court docket filings.
imprisoned by the Saudis
Simply weeks earlier than his arrest, Al-Azhari purchased a Uzi, a bulletproof vest and a drone. He additionally tried ordering firearm components and silencers from his eBay. He had filmed a mock rehearsal for the bloodbath himself, which was found when investigators confiscated his mobile phone.
He additionally informed colleagues on the ironmongery shop the place he labored that those that died on the Twin Towers on Sept. 11 “bought what they deserved” and praised Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen. expressed intent.
In 2015, Al-Azhari, an adolescent, was arrested, imprisoned and tortured by Saudi authorities after he tried to go to Syria to hitch ISIS.
His attorneys final 12 months claimed the expertise exacerbated pre-existing psychological well being issues, inflicting him to “expertise visions and discuss to individuals who weren’t there.”
responsible plea
The Fed launched an investigation into Mr. Al-Azhari after Saudi Arabia despatched him again to america in December 2018, in response to prosecutors.
After his launch, his paranoia and delusions worsened, in response to court docket paperwork, and he started to “sleep on his doorstep at evening and get up in a state of panic, pondering he was going to be killed by the FBI or Saudi spies.” It’s mentioned that
Al-Azhari was initially dominated ineligible to face trial by a US district choose. Nonetheless, the ruling was overturned by the eleventh Circuit Courtroom of Appeals final December.
He pleaded responsible earlier this 12 months. After his 18-year sentence, he will likely be launched for all times beneath supervision.
5 days after his arrest, Al-Azhari’s sister, Heba Momtaz Al-Azhari, was shot useless after attacking a police officer with a knife on Temple Terrace, Florida.
(tag translation) recreation enterprise
