| Some more connected lone wolves. |
[NYDailyNews] An ISIS devotee leading a small cell of fellow wannabes admitted Friday to plotting attacks for the terror group.
Munther Omar Saleh, 21, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to planning to aid the organization and scheming to attack law enforcement.
He was enjugged
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
, armed with knives and charging at a federal officer tailing him.
His co-defendant, Fareed Mumuni,
| ...a.k.a. Fereed Mumuni and Freed Mumuni because of those layers of editors and fact checkers... |
22, admitted to the plot Thursday -- plus charges Mumuni tried to fatally stab an FBI agent with a kitchen knife.
The agent, helping execute a search warrant at Mumuni's house, was protected by body armor.
Saleh, the one-time Queens college student, said Friday he spoke with others about traveling to join ISIS. He said he got hiking boots for a co-conspirator trying to get to Syria, and passed along contact information for someone he thought was an ISIS recruiter. The group of terror wannabes included several New Jersey men.
If Saleh opted for trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Solomon said the government would've shown Saleh was in contact with "attack controller" Junaid Hussain.
| ...also cleverly known as "Abu Hussain", the young former Birmingham, Englander was briefly the proud husband of middle aged, former punk rocker Sally Jones and one of ISIS' long-distance jihad coaches. He was killed at age 21 by a drone in Raqqa in August 2015. |
Solomon said Hussain relayed instructions to Saleh on how to build a pressure cooker bomb like the one that killed three people during the 2014 Boston Marathon.
Hussain, a hacker with a big role in ISIS online recruitment, was killed in an August 2015 U.S. air strike in Syria.
As Brooklyn Federal Judge Margo Brodie made sure Saleh understood what he was doing by pleading, she asked if anyone threatened or forced him to plead.
Saleh paused before saying yes.
The judge noted the hesitation and asked again if he'd been pushed into the plea.
"Partly. More like, my counsel said, between a rock and a hard place," he said.
Both Saleh and Mumuni are scheduled for May 16 sentencing. Saleh faces up to 53 years and Mumuni could get a maximum 85 years.
"In the name of ISIS's false and hateful ideology, these defendants attacked the law enforcement officers who work tirelessly to preserve the safety of our communities," said U.S. Attorney Robert Capers.
Saleh's lawyer, Deborah Austern Colson, and Saleh's parents did not comment after the plea.
| The Daily Mail has more here. |
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