Pakistani physician Muhammad Masood, MD, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
From January 2020 to March 2020, Dr. Masood, who was formerly employed as a research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minn., used encrypted messaging to facilitate his travel overseas to join ISIS, according to an Aug. 25 news release from the Justice Department.
He pledged his allegiance to ISIS and expressed his desire to conduct "lone wolf" terrorist attacks in the U.S. On Feb 21, 2020, he purchased a plane ticket from Chicago to Anman, Jordan, and planned to travel to Syria.
His plans changed after Jordan closed its borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Masood then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with someone who he believed would help him with travel via cargo ship.
On March 19, 2020, Dr. Masood was arrested by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force on his arrival to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.