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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A former member of National Guard has been charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, according to U.S. Department of Justice.
Authorities said 26-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, of Sterling, Va., had been contemplating a Fort Hood-style attack against U.S. military.
Court documents in this case highlighted Jalloh's attempts to get weapons and money for the terrorist group that would be used in an attack on U.S. soil as well as the recruitment of others seeking to join ISIS.
Jalloh has been on the FBI’s radar since March after he reportedly told an informant he was plotting an attack.
In a recorded conversation with the FBI informant, Jalloh reportedly said attacks on the U.S. are 100 percent the right thing. He also told the informant that he quit the Virginia Army National Guard after listening to online lectures by Anwar al-Aulaqi, a deceased leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
We are told he first made contact with the terrorist group while visiting Nigeria last year.
“It comes as a surprise,” said one of Jalloh’s neighbors. “No one really knew anything, and when this happened on Sunday, we weren’t informed or told.”
The neighbor was at home when Jalloh's residence was raided on Sunday.
“Police, FBI, SWAT team from 9:30 [a.m.] until about 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon,” she said.
Jalloh was arrested one day after buying a Stag Arms assault rifle at a Chantilly gun store. The FBI seized the rifle. Court records said he also traveled to North Carolina multiple times in June, but was unsuccessful in obtaining firearms.
Jalloh's attorney had no comment outside of the courthouse after his client’s court appearance on Tuesday. He was ordered held without bond and is facing 20 years in prison.
The 26-year-old is the fifth Northern Virginia man to be arrested on terrorism charges since last year.