Muhammad Masood, a 31-year-old licensed Pakistani doctor who was living in the United States on a work visa, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organization Daesh.
“A Rochester man was sentenced today to 216 months in prison, the equivalent of 18 years, after providing material to a foreign terrorist organization,” said a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. “Granted five years of supervised release for attempted aiding and abetting.”
Court documents show Masood was previously employed as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B visa.
According to the official statement, Masood’s activities from January 2020 to March 2020 show attempts to become part of a militant organization and provide material support for terrorist activities in the United States.
“Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood used a secret messaging application to facilitate his travel abroad to join a terrorist organization,” the statement added.
It added that the Pakistani man made several statements about his desire to join Daesh and also pledged allegiance to the designated terrorist organization and its leader.
“Masood also expressed desire to carry out ‘lone wolf’ terror attacks in the US.”
On February 21, 2020, he purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois to Amman, Jordan, intending to travel from there to Syria.
However, his travel plans changed on 16 March 2020, due to Jordan’s border closure under the coronavirus travel restrictions.
He then decided to drive from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, where he would meet a man he believed would help him get to territory claimed by Daesh.
On March 19, 2020, Massoud traveled from Rochester to Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport (MSP) to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California.
However, he was eventually arrested on arrival at the airport by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).
Masood had confessed to trying to provide material support to Daesh on August 16 last year.
Senior Judge Paul A. Magnuson sentenced him to 18 years in prison on Friday after the FBI’s JTTF investigation concluded.
