Michigan Man Jailed For ISIS Support Plot

A Michigan man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of attempting to provide material support to ISIS and possessing a destructive device, in a case that highlights continuing US counterterrorism enforcement against domestic support networks linked to foreign terrorist organisations.

Aws Mohammed Naser, 38, formerly of Westland, Michigan, was convicted by a jury following a five-week trial. Prosecutors said Naser twice attempted to provide material support to ISIS, including personnel and services, while knowing that ISIS was a designated foreign terrorist organisation engaged in terrorism. He was also convicted of being a felon in possession of a destructive device.

The Department of Justice said Naser had attempted to travel to Syria in 2012 and 2013, including through planned routes involving Lebanon and Turkey. After those attempts failed and he later served a sentence for armed robbery, prosecutors said he renewed his allegiance to ISIS while in the US and turned his focus to supporting the group domestically.

Evidence at trial showed that Naser accessed ISIS propaganda, joined invitation-only online supporter groups, sought information on explosives, received bomb-making guidance, experimented with manufacturing explosives and operated drones. When the FBI searched his home and vehicle in October 2017, agents found what prosecutors described as a bomb-making lab, drones, tools, drone parts and components for a TATP-based improvised explosive device.

The sentence underlines the priority US authorities continue to place on detecting and disrupting terrorist activity before it results in an attack. It also reflects the evidential importance of online extremist activity, travel attempts, communications with overseas fighters and possession of bomb-making materials in material support prosecutions.

For financial crime, sanctions and compliance teams, the case is a reminder that terrorism-related exposure is not confined to formal organisations or overseas conflict zones. Individual radicalisation, online networks, attempted travel, small-scale fundraising and procurement of dual-use materials can all form part of the risk picture. Firms should ensure terrorist financing controls remain calibrated to detect low-value, high-risk activity, unusual travel-related transactions, extremist-linked communications and procurement patterns involving chemicals, drones or other potentially sensitive goods.

Read the press release here.