Florida Muslim Conspired with Islamic State (ISIS) Terror Group By Carrying Out Islamic Attacks in Florida, Including One at Honeymoon Island

14

Al-Azhari, a U.S. citizen, served three years in prison in Saudi Arabia after being convicted in 2015 of attempting to join a terrorist organization there while traveling to Syria to fight against the Syrian government, according to the complaint. In late 2018, he returned to the U.S. — first to California, where his grandmother lives, and then to Tampa. He should never have been allowed back in America after serving time for jihad terror related crimes in Saudi Arabia.

WUSF Media:

Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari was arrested on Sunday following an investigation by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, which included police departments in Tampa, Clearwater and St. Petersburg and sheriff’s offices in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties. If convicted, Al-Azhari faces up to 20 years in prison.

Story continues below advertisement

In a release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Al-Azhari expressed his admiration for Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen and talked about his desire to conduct a similar mass shooting.

Al-Azhari researched and scouted out several potential targets in the Tampa Bay area, including Honeymoon Island, authorities said. He went as far as rehearsing the attacks, including what he would say during them, they said.

“We are grateful for the hard work and swift action by our law enforcement partners and concerned citizens during this investigation,” said U.S. Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez for the Middle District of Florida. “Their coordination and cooperation in this matter allowed us to interrupt a serious threat, without harm to anyone.”

Al-Azhari has a criminal history with terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia.

During the investigation, he tried to buy multiple firearms and eventually acquired a Glock pistol with a silencer, authorities said.

“We are grateful for the quick work of our partners at the FBI to apprehend Al-Azhari before he could carry out his attack,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “This case demonstrates the Department’s commitment to stand vigilant against the threat of terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms.”

Supporter of Islamic State terror group nabbed in undercover sting in FL, FBI says

By: Military News, May 28, 2020:

A Tampa man faces federal charges after FBI agents said he gave “material support” to the Islamic State and may have scouted Honeymoon Island State Park for a possible attack.

Muhammed Momtaz Al-Azhari, 23, is charged with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Al-Azhari was arrested Sunday in a federal sting operation in which he acquired weapons from an FBI informant with whom he’d shared his desires to carry out a mass shooting on behalf of a terror group, according to a criminal complaint.

The document refers to the terror group as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS.

Al-Azhari, a U.S. citizen, served three years in prison in Saudi Arabia after being convicted in 2015 of attempting to join a terrorist organization there while traveling to Syria to fight against the Syrian government, according to the complaint. In late 2018, he returned to the U.S. — first to California, where his grandmother lives, and then to Tampa.

He spent much of this spring trying to illegally acquire guns from an undercover FBI agent posing as an eBay seller, the complaint said. Al-Azhari called off the deal after Tampa police arrested him for trying to carry a pistol into a Home Depot. The complaint goes on to say that Al-Azhari worked at a Tampa Home Depot, though it doesn’t specify which one.

In late April, according to the complaint, Al-Azhari also used the online shopping site Wish to order a bulletproof vest, a balaclava and materials that he’d talked about converting into a firearm silencer.

Much of the complaint details the FBI’s monitoring of Al-Azhari’s online and phone communications through the spring. He regularly read Islamic State news and participated in Islamic State-focused chat rooms. He researched bomb-making and disguises.

FBI agents said he also traveled multiple times to Orlando, specifically to Pulse nightclub. That was the site of the 2016 mass shooting that killed 49 people and injured 53 other, authorities say, carried out by a shooter who’d sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. At least one of those times, agents said, Al-Azhari took photos of the building and later told the confidential source who participated in the sting that he wanted to do something like what the shooter had done.

Agents said they also found self-shot videos on Al-Azhari’s iPhone in which he showed off guns, mimicked shooting people and announced his support for the Islamic State.

“God willing, the exhalted, the Islamic State is lasting,” he said at the end of one of the videos, according to the complaint.

Earlier this month, agents said, Al-Azhari drove to Honeymoon Island but turned around once he got there. In the early morning hours two days later, he searched on Google maps for “FBI” and “central intelligence” as well as Honeymoon Island, Clearwater Beach and “busy beach.” Agents said in the complaint that they believe he was looking for a target.

On May 20, agents said, Al-Azhari started talking with the confidential source, who has a criminal record that includes robbery and gun possession convictions. Over the next four days, according to the complaint, they talked about acquiring guns, and Al-Azhari talked about his desires to kill Americans and move to Iraq or Syria.

“I want to join ISIS,” he told the source, according to the complaint. “They are the real followers.”

Al-Azhari also told the source that he was keeping track of locations where he’d seen military license plates or “anything government-related,” agents said, and suggested the two target a police officer. On Saturday, agents said, the source showed Al-Azhari pictures of a Glock pistol and an AK-47 — the kinds of guns he’d tried to buy from the eBay seller. The source told Al-Azhari they were his cousin’s guns, and the cousin was willing to sell.

The two agreed to pool their money for the Glock and a silencer, according to the complaint. That afternoon, they met in Tampa, where the source gave Al-Azhari a bag containing the gun and silencer. Al-Azhari took the bag and got into the source’s passenger seat, at which point FBI agents said they arrested him.

Al-Azhari was being held Wednesday in the Pinellas County jail at the request of federal agents. The charge he faces could carry a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison if he’s convicted.

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding. Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.

Follow Pamela Geller on
Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.

If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
14 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
BanLiberals
BanLiberals
3 years ago

As a Florida resident, I’d like Trump to explain to me why he STILL is clandestinely allowing the importation of this kind of GARBAGE, which he is!

9/11 taught us that Muslims are as dangerous and evil and slaughter innocent people as indiscriminately as cancer.

https://reallyrockin.com/category/islam-and-terror/

comment image

comment image

felix1999
felix1999
3 years ago
Reply to  BanLiberals

Trump doesn’t micro manage who comes here. Common sense was missing by those that handle who comes in and out of our country. If you want to blame someone, blame who ever handles this stuff.

MAS
MAS
3 years ago

Yet one more reason to CCW at all times because it’s more and more obvious our government refuses to protect us…

felix1999
felix1999
3 years ago
Reply to  MAS

Our government is infested with lefties.

felix1999
felix1999
3 years ago

Off topic –
As we are distracted with other news items, we have another Muslim Jihad attack in Texas !

Another Jihad Attack at a Naval Air Station — This Time in Texas
MAY 27, 2020 5:00 PM
BY ROBERT SPENCER

The establishment media was busy telling us how evil President Trump was for hitting the golf course for some exercise, but last Thursday, there was the second jihad attack at a naval air station in the US in the last six months. A 20-year-old Muslim migrant from Syria named Adam Salim Alsahli drove up to the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas and, according to CNN, “attempted to rush the security gate with a vehicle.”Then, after “security deployed a barrier to stop the vehicle,” Alsahli “exited the vehicle and opened fire…and naval security forces returned fire.” Alsahli was “neutralized,” but the threat he represents has not been neutralized at all, because of the refusal of the political and media elites to face it honestly.

Surprisingly in these times when nearly every jihad attack is written off as a manifestation of “mental illness,” the FBI immediately acknowledged that Alsahli’s attack was “terrorism-related.” As it turned out, “officials have identified various social media accounts, which initial reports indicate are likely associated with the shooter….Online postings by these accounts expressed support for ISIS and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

What a surprise. And Alsahli’s attack came only three days after the news broke that “the gunman who killed three U.S. sailors at a military base in Florida last year repeatedly communicated with al-Qaida operatives about planning in the months leading up to the attack.”

And he didn’t just communicate with them. Attorney General William Barr noted that the Florida shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, had “significant ties to Al Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula not only before the attack, but before he even arrived in the United States.” Like Alsahli, Alshamrani attacked a naval air base, the Naval Air Station Pensacola.

Leftists will blame Trump, but that’s even more ridiculous in this case than it usually is, as it was Obama’s policies that have increased America’s vulnerability to jihad attack and made sure that there will be many more like those perpetrated by Alsahli and Alshamrani.

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/05/another-jihad-attack-at-a-naval-air-station-this-time-in-texas

Adam Salim Alsahli comment image

Mohammed_Goldberg
Mohammed_Goldberg
3 years ago

Time to wire up “Old Sparky” to be ready to use when needed.

taxpayer22
taxpayer22
3 years ago

Islam was never a religion of peace. Islam is the religion of fighting… Do not think the war that we are waging is the Islamic State’s war alone. Rather, it is the Muslims’ war altogether. It is the war of every Muslim in every place, and the Islamic State is merely the spearhead in this war. It is but the war of the people of faith against the people of disbelief… ~ Bakr al-Baghdadi.

MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
MuhamMUDTheFakeProphet
3 years ago
Reply to  taxpayer22

If islam was a religion of war, rather than peace, would things be any different?

Bikinis not Burkas
Bikinis not Burkas
3 years ago

No!

Bikinis not Burkas
Bikinis not Burkas
3 years ago

WTF Islam is a terrorist organization!

Quran 8:12 proves it 100%
[Remember] when your Lord inspired to the angels, “I am with you, so strengthen those who have believed.

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved, so strike [them] upon the necks and strike from them every
fingertip.”

Stephen Honig
Stephen Honig
3 years ago

Home Depot has to do a better job on these Muslims. When I go to Home Depot I see more and more Muslim with head scarfs.

John Acord
John Acord
3 years ago

Dig down and you will find this walking time bomb was deliberately released by the Saudis and sent to the USA to commit mayhem.

Alexandra
Alexandra
3 years ago

Thank you FBI. At least when you are not trying to destroy my President, you get some bad guys.

Alexandra
Alexandra
3 years ago

Thank you FBI. At least when you are not trying to destroy my President, you get some bad guys.

Sponsored
Geller Report
Thanks for sharing!