There wasn’t a DOJ press release but the @FBITampa arrested a man for supporting ISIS this week. The investigation was quite interesting and in many ways out of the norm for homegrown terrorism cases. Follow me for a thread of the most salient points. 1/x

Muhammed al-Azhari is a 23 year old US Citizen. But from 2015 to 2018, he and his father spent three years in a Saudi jail for terrorism charges. He was released and came back to the US.

https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Al%20Azhari%20Complaint.pdf

Last month, he attempted to buy firearms on eBay. This is the interesting part. eBay flagged the purchase and the FBI stopped it on route. Then the FBI took over the account of the original eBay seller and ran it as a undercover operation.

The FBI then used that undercover persona to build a relationship and talk about buying more weapons. The suspect stated he had other guns.

In which was the greatest federal and state law enforcement coordination operation or, more likely, the absolute opposite of that, local police arrested al-Azhari in the middle of the investigation for showing up to work with a concealed gun.

He also purchased some interesting other items online prior to the local arrest.

Feds tapped his electronics in May of last year, a few months after he returned from Saudi Arabia. Some of his browsing history.

Some more on phone history.

He appeared to have a obsession with Pulse nightclub terrorist Omar Mateen, googling where he was buried and scoping out the Pulse nightclub.

In addition to ebay, in the last month, al-azhari had made purported attempts to buy guns from friends.

He made a video of himself showing off the guns and also a mock up ISIS support video.

A week after he was released from jail for the local gun charge, this is what the FBI picked up on their surveillance. (Assuming they’re used the day in prison to bug his house)

“Hello America. Today is your emergency. Today we kill from you like you kill from us. Know America, today is your emergency, today we fight you in your own country.”

He scouted out locations, including the FBI office.

This week, the FBI introduced an undercover into the al-Azhari operation. He was arrested a few days ago.

. @gwupoe uploaded the full complaint here. My thanks to @JustinRohrlich for flagging it when it was unsealed

https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/Al%20Azhari%20Complaint.pdf

Finally, My friends and I track cases like this for a living. After years of research and interviews, we wrote a book looking at ISIS support in America. You can preorder it here. https://www.amazon.com/Homegrown-Alexander-Meleagrou-Hitchens-Seamus-Hughes/dp/1788314859