A police officer working for the Washington, DC transport system has been arrested "on charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation", the US Department of Justice says.
Officials say Nicholas Young, a 12-year veteran of the Washington Metro Transit Police Department, was charged after a lengthy undercover operation targeting a number of people involved in supporting IS militants.
The Washington Post reports he provided "$245 of gift-card codes intended to help members of the Islamic State set up mobile messaging accounts to communicate with potential recruits in the West".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The FBI said Young, who had been under investigation since 2010, had travelled to Libya in 2011 to fight with rebels during the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
He is also reported to be an "acquaintance" of Amine El Khalifi, who in 2012 pleaded guilty to plotting to detonate a suicide bomb at the US Capitol building.
"Over the next several years, in interactions with undercover officers and an FBI informant -many of them recorded - Young repeatedly expressed his interest in terrorism-related activity," ABC News claims.
Young is the first US law enforcement officer to be charged with aiding foreign terror groups. In the past three years, more than 100 US citizens have faced similar charges.
-
A Nipah virus outbreak in India has brought back Covid-era surveillanceUnder the radar The disease can spread through animals and humans
-
Nasa’s new dark matter mapUnder the Radar High-resolution images may help scientists understand the ‘gravitational scaffolding into which everything else falls and is built into galaxies’
-
Is the US about to lose its measles elimination status?Today's Big Question Cases are skyrocketing
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Normalising relations with the Taliban in AfghanistanThe Explainer The regime is coming in from the diplomatic cold, as countries lose hope of armed opposition and seek cooperation on counterterrorism, counter-narcotics and deportation of immigrants
