Washington: A Pakistani national, who received commando training in an LeT camp as a teenager before moving to the US, has been arrested by FBI on charges of supporting the terror group, including making radical videos for it after being instructed by the son of the outfit's chief Hafiz Saeed.
24-year-old Jubair Ahmad, who has permanent legal residency in the US, was arrested for allegedly providing material support to LeT, according to FBI.
Ahmad received "indoctrination and training from LeT while he lived in Pakistan" as a teenager, said the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint unsealed yesterday.
If convicted, he faces a maximum potential sentence of 15 years in prison on the material support charge and eight years in prison on the charge of making false statements in a terrorism-related investigation.
Ahmad came to the US in 2007 along with other family members, and in 2009, the FBI launched an investigation after receiving information on his association with LeT, the US
Department of Justice said.
The affidavit alleged that in September 2010, he produced and uploaded a propaganda video on YouTube on behalf of LeT, after direct communications with a person named 'Talha'.
In a subsequent conversation with another person, Ahmad identified Talha as Talha Saeed, the LeT founder's son who was his handler for producing radical videos to recruit 'jihadists' over Internet.
The video uploaded by Ahmad in September 2010 contained images of "Hafiz Saeed, so-called jihadi martyrs and armoured trucks exploding after having been hit by improvised explosive devices," it said. In October 2010, Talha had allegedly contacted Ahmad and requested him to revise the LeT propaganda video, giving Ahmad specific instructions.
Ahmad then allegedly revised the video and posted it on October 16, 2010. In August 2011, FBI agents interrogated him, where he denied any involvement with the video.
While it did not mention how Talha communicated with Ahmad, FBI said the son of the LeT founder and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was the man behind production of such radical videos.
The FBI said a review of immigration records indicated that Ahmad was born in Sialkot and resided in Pakistan until the age of 19.
According to admissions he made during a number of communications analysed by the FBI, he received indoctrination and training from LeT while he lived in Pakistan.
"These communications demonstrate that, as a teenager, in or about 2004, Jubair attended an LeT training course known as 'Dora Suffa' where he received instruction in religious dogma and proselytising," the complaint said.
Thereafter, he attended LeT's basic training camp known as 'Dora A'ama', where he received additional religious indoctrination, physical conditioning and weapons instruction.
For example, when describing his training at Dora A'ama, Ahmad stated in one of the communications that recruits "listen to lectures, offer your prayers, exercise, study guns, fire them" and added that "where I got training from they do the commando training there now," the FBI said.
Subsequent to attending Dora A'ama, Ahmad reported for the next stage of LeT training -- the commando course known as Dora Khasa.
"He spent only a week at that course, however, because an instructor at the training camp told Jubair that he was too young, that he needed to continue his studies, and then he
could return to complete Dora Khasa," said the complaint signed by FBI Special Agent, Daudshah S Andish.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, September 03, 2011, 11:21