Feds: Army Enlistee Plotted Attack at US Base

John Booker of Kansas is accused of supporting ISIS
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 10, 2015 1:23 PM CDT
Feds: Army Enlistee Plotted Attack at US Base
U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom holds news conference on Friday in Kansas City, Kan., about the case.   (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, John Sleezer)

Another American accused of trying to join up with ISIS has instead got caught in an FBI sting. Feds today arrested John Booker, a 20-year-old from Topeka, Kansas, and accused of him plotting a suicide bombing at Fort Riley in Kansas, reports the Topeka Capitol-Journal. He'd been under surveillance for a while, however, and the FBI says the explosives he was working with were actually harmless, unbeknownst to Booker, aka Mohammed Abdullah Hassan. One twist: Feds say he actually enlisted in the Army as part of his plot, and ABC News says he was due to report for basic training on Tuesday. He also allegedly had made his martyr videos already.

Booker drew the attention of authorities about a year ago with posts on social media, including one that read, “getting ready to be killed in jihad is a HUGE adrenaline rush!!” reports the Kansas City Star. The FBI interviewed him the very next day and had him under surveillance since. After his arrest this morning, he was charged with attempted use of WMD, attempt to provide material support to ISIS, and attempt to destroy US property. But "there was never any concern on our part that he would get onto the base," says Barry Grissom, the US attorney for Kansas. This follows the unrelated arrests of two women in Queens and two cousins in Illinois on charges of trying to aid the Islamic State. (More ISIS stories.)

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