WASHINGTON: A man of Pakistani origin has been arrested and charged in the US with supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba, FBI officials said on Friday.
Jubair Ahmad, 24, of Woodbridge, Virginia, allegedly received religious training from the terrorist group as a teenager in Pakistan and later attended one of its training camps.
Jubair came to the United States in 2007 with his family. He`s been under investigation for two years, ever since the US Federal Bureau of Investigation got a tip that he might be connected to the group, the officials said.
The US State Department has designated Lashkar-e-Taiba as a terrorist group.
An affidavit submitted in a Virginia court claims that in September 2010, Jubair produced and uploaded a propaganda video to YouTube on behalf of LeT, after communications with a person named Talha.
In a subsequent conversation with another person, Jubair identified Talha as Talha Saeed, the son of LeT leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
Talha and Jubair allegedly communicated about the images, music and audio that Jubair was to use to make the video. The final video contained images of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed, so-called jihadi martyrs and armoured trucks exploding after they were hit by improvised explosive devices.
In October 2010, Talha allegedly contacted Jubair and requested that he revise the LeT propaganda video, giving Jubair specific instructions.
Jubair allegedly revised the video and posted it on Oct 16, 2010.
In August 2011, FBI agents interviewed Jubair, but he denied any involvement with the October 2010 video.
If convicted, Jubair faces a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison on the material support charge and eight years in prison on the charge of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.
In June, a Pakistan-born Chicago businessman was found guilty of providing support to Lashkar-e-Taiba in the 2008 Mumbai assault but not guilty of taking part in the attack.
Tahawwur Rana, 50, a former Pakistan Army doctor with Canadian citizenship, was also found guilty of conspiring to attack a Danish newspaper; a plot hatched by the militant group but never carried out.