A Virginia man has been arrested and charged with trying to help the Islamic State find targets in and around the Washington D.C. area, authorities announced this week.
Federal officials revealed the arrest of Haris Qamar, 25 on Friday. He was charged with attempting to aid the Islamic State with trying to attack landmarks and government facilities.
Authorities said Qamar endeavored to supply photos and video to help ISIS “encourage lone wolf attacks in the Washington, D.C., area.”
“On June 3,” the indictment reads, audio and video were recorded “when [the FBI’s Confidential Witness] picked up Qamar in a vehicle and they drove to area landmarks on the list Qamar had developed. Qamar allegedly said ‘bye bye DC, stupid ass kufar, kill’em all’. Qamar and [the witness] met again on June 10 and drove to a location in Arlington to take additional photos for the ISIL video.”
The FBI added the allegation that Qamar was maintaining over 60 variations of the Twitter handle “newerajihadi” on which he repeatedly expressed pro-ISIS sentiments.
Authorities also allege that Qamar told the informant he had cased out the homes of area residents whose names appeared on an ISIS “kill list” and planned to tell the terror outfit if the homes were patrolled and what security measures were present.
Allegedly, Qamar himself tried to join ISIS in 2014, but his parents would not relinquish his passport so he could leave the U.S.
Qamar could receive up to twenty years in prison if convicted.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.