Ex-National Guard member charged with plotting to help IS

A former National Guard soldier has been charged with plotting to help the Islamic State group and contemplating a Fort Hood-style attack against the US military.

Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 26, of Sterling, Virginia, is scheduled to make his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Alexandria on Tuesday. Jalloh served in the Army National Guard but quit the service after being inspired by a number of online lecture videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, a now-deceased radical cleric.

In June, Jalloh reportedly traveled to North Carolina, where he allegedly attempted – and failed – to purchase firearms to carry out a terrorist attack similar to the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in which 13 people were killed.

On July 2, he did purchase and test-fire a Stag Arms assault rifle at a northern Virginia gun dealership, according to the Department of Justice.

It was not immediately clear if Jalloh had a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Jalloh’s sister, Fatmatu Jalloh, said in a brief telephone interview that she is serving as one of her brother’s attorneys. She said she had not yet seen the unsealed charges but denied he was the Islamic State group.

Mohamad Bailor Jalloh, a United States citizen born in Sierra Leone, was arrested Sunday, according to court filings in the Eastern District of Virginia cited by the Washington Post. When the ISIL member asked Jalloh about his willingness to participate in a possible attack in the United States, he was initially unsure, saying in a conversation on April 21, “I really want to but I don’t want to give my word and not fulfill it”. Federal law enforcement was alerted to Jalloh’s plans by a confidential source who was working with a now-dead overseas co-conspirator, court documents said. Ultimately, Jalloh provided a prepaid cash transfer of $500 to a contact of the CHS that Jalloh believed was a member of ISIL, but who was in fact an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation employee.

According to court documents, Jalloh met with the informant on two occasions in April and May 2016. Asked to explain, Jalloh said, “Nidal Hasan type of things”.

Mohamad Bailor Jalloh was arrested Sunday after he got involved with planning a terror attack on USA soil.

Jalloh allegedly visited a Virginia gun shop on Thursday, July 1, attempting to buy a Bushmaster AR-15, but he was rejected because he wasn’t carrying the proper identification. The affidavit says he returned the next day and bought a different assault rifle, which was rendered inoperable before he left the store. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content into other works.