The US has charged veteran US Air Force Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh with the attempt to join and provide material support to the Islamic State group in Syria, after being fired from his work as an airplane mechanic based in the Middle East earlier this year.
“Born and raised in the United States, Pugh allegedly turned his back on his country and attempted to travel to Syria in order to join a terrorist organization,” said US Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York. “We will continue to vigorously prosecute extremists, whether based here or abroad, to stop them before they are able to threaten the United States and its allies,” she added in a statement posted on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s website on Tuesday.
Pugh, according to the statement, traveled on 10 January from Egypt to Turkey attempting to cross the border into Syria to allegedly join the IS. Turkish authorities banned him from entering Syria and sent him back to Egypt.
Upon arrival back in Egypt, the suspect was found carrying multiple electronic devices, including four USB thumb drives that had been stripped of their plastic casings, an iPod that had been wiped clean of data and a cellular telephone that contained, among other things, a photograph of a machine gun, the statement said. He was then deported to the US.
According to the statement, the defendant could face a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison, if convicted. He will be arraigned on Wednesday.
