Published 11:30 IST, November 27th 2019
US man allegedly tried to plot ISIS attack after being expelled from college
A 23-year-old man in the US, Salman Rashid is facing criminal charges after he attempted to get extremist group ISIS to orchestrate an attack on 2 college deans
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A 23-year-old man in the US, Salman Rashid is facing criminal charges after he attempted to get extremist group ISIS to orchestrate an attack on two heads of two different colleges in Florida. According to reports, the reason behind his plan to call on such attacks was his suspension from the college.
Attempt to plot an ISIS attack
The US attorneys in South Florida released an official statement that they had taken Rashid into custody and slapped him with the charges of influencing another person to commit an act of violence. Rashid believed he had connected with people would help him get in touch with ISIS, but those sources were, in fact, undercover FBI agents who had gotten in touch with Rashid through Facebook messenger to build friendship and gain trust over time.
According to reports, Rashid came in contact with an undercover FBI agent, stating that he wanted to leave the world but first wanted to carry out an attack. The source/agent introduced Rashid to another individual he believed to be a member of the militant group ISIS but in reality, was another FBI agent.
Rashid was involved in carrying out meetings and conversations regarding the planned attack with an apparent set of rules such as- target sinners, make the explosions big enough to instil a sense of fear in people adding that children should not be targeted.
According to reports, after Rashid decided on targeting the deans of Broward College and Miami Dade College, he provided the name to his "sources" along with pictures of both the deans and a detailed survey about the security on campus.
Rashid sent threatening messages
In a complaint filed by an FBI agent, it was said that the 23-year-old man was involved in sending threatening messages to a female classmate at the Miami Dade College alongside writing extremist social media posts.
One of Rashid's classmates from MDC registered a complaint against him, stating that he had sent her messages that included threatening words. According to reports, he wrote they both will be meeting again with things that would be completely different and added that she would not have any choice and will have to come close to him.
The student also stated that Rashid continued to send her messages that ultimately led to his suspension. However, the girl said that she still did not feel safe and felt threatened as Rashid attempted to follow her after her classes got over. Authorities later found out that Rashid had gone through information on how to stalk someone and told one of his "sources" that he was well aware of the details of the woman's workplace and home.
FBI began looking into Rashid's case in the year 2018 after going through several of his facebook posts that tried to influence people to throw away democracy and establish Islamic Law. The FBI stated that most of his posts on Facebook were berating the way Muslims were treated in the US and aimed at threatening people who did not agree with his thought process. Rashid was of the opinion that he was a Muslim leader and would go on to establish the next caliphate.
(With inputs from agencies)
10:46 IST, November 27th 2019