Md. man indicted in alleged plan to kill military member on behalf of ISIS
GREENBELT, Md. - A federal grand jury returned an indictment Monday against a Maryland man accused of planning to kill a member of the U.S. military to on behalf of ISIS. Nelash Mohamed Das, 24, is charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State.
Das is a citizen of Bangladesh who resides in Landover Hills, Md. According to authorities, Das came to the U.S. in 1995 when he was 4 years old and later became a legal permanent resident.
According to the indictment, Das allegedly attempted to support ISIS from October 2015 to September 30, 2016 by allegedly planning to kill a U.S. service member in Prince George's County. Court documents say ISIS members and supports have posted information identifying military personnel in hopes that those inspired by ISIS would carry out attacks against them.
According to records obtained by authorities, Das took a handgun licensing class at a firing range throughout the summer of 2016 and submitted his fingerprints with Maryland State Police to obtain a handgun permit. After several meetings with the FBI informant, Das said that he was looking for names of potential targets for them to kill while using guns acquired by the informant.
On Sept. 11, Das met with the FBI source and confirmed to him that he was 100 percent committed to conducting an attack, saying, "That's like my goal in life." The following day, Das said he wanted to be paid by ISIS for future killings, but was willing to do it for free also. He also confirmed he specifically wanted to target U.S. military personnel.
On Sept. 28, Das and the confidential FBI informant drove to a firearms store in Virginia and purchased ammunition. At Das' request, the source provided information of a target believed to be a member of a U.S. service member, but was actually false information provided by the FBI. Das also believed the information came from ISIS and he would be paid $80,000 for conducting the attack. After buying the ammunition, Das and the source traveled to a location in Maryland of the supposed military member to conduct surveillance.
Two days later, the confidential source picked up Das to travel to the location of the target in order to conduct the attack. After driving to the location, FBI agents were waiting to arrest Das.
If convicted, Das faces up to 20 years in prison.