An Iraq-born U.S. citizen who traveled abroad, pledged an oath to the leader of the Islamic State and returned to the United States was arrested for lying to the FBI in an effort to conceal his activity.
Bilal Abood, a 37-year-old Texas resident, was arrested Thursday after the FBI found evidence on his computer that he lied about his travel plans to hide the fact that he pledged in June an oath to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, the Department of Justice said. That month, the Islamic State gained enough traction in Iraq to overtake Mosul, the second-largest city in the country.
FBI agents have been tracking Mr. Abood’s actions for years and intercepted him in March 2013, when he was trying to leave the country for Iraq. That venture proved unsuccessful, prompting Mr. Abood to come up with a crafty and complex travel plan for how to get to the Middle East, which involved trekking through Mexico and various countries, according to a statement from the Justice Department.
That plan panned out and allowed for Mr. Abood to spend some time in Syria in 2013, a year before the Islamic State garnered national attention and prompted the U.S. and its partner nations to form an alliance to combat the violent extremist group.
Mr. Abood left the U.S. in April 2013 and did not return until September of that year. FBI agents interviewed Mr. Abood after her returned from Syria about the purpose of his trip, according to the statement. Mr. Abood told the FBI that he went to train with the Free Syrian Army and did not interact with the Islamic State or the Islamic militant group al-Nusrah Front during the course of his trip.
“In that interview, Abood admitted traveling to Syria through Turkey, and claimed that he went there to fight with the FSA and that he had stayed in an FSA camp,” the statement read. “Abood stated that he became frustrated with a lack of action and wanted to return to the United States.”
After that conversation, the FBI obtained a search warrant for Mr. Abood’s computer. A review of the computer’s contents show that Mr. Abood had been watching Islamic State beheadings online and had used his Twitter account to tweet about Mr. al-Baghdadi, according to the statement.
Mr. Abood appeared Thursday afternoon in federal court in Texas. He will remain in custody pending a probable cause and detention hearing set for Friday, according to the statement.
• Maggie Ybarra can be reached at mybarra@washingtontimes.com.
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