CALIFORNIA: An Indian-American Hindu supporter of terrorist outfit, the Islamic State was arrested earlier this month on charges of lying to the US Army and Air Force, on a job application. Shivam Patel of Williamsburg is charged with one count of “making materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or misrepresentations in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the Government of the United States,” court documents said.
FBI Special Agent Thomas Pembroke, in an affidavit filed on June 30 in the District Court of Eastern Virginia, stated that Patel had long sympathised with the Islamic State and with al Qaeda. His parents were interviewed last year, and it was learned that he had been “obsessed with Islam” and had converted couple of years ago. Investigation revealed Patel's personal browser history contained multiple searches for Islamic State-related material, IS-related propaganda videos, and information on how to join the group. He had also searched for ways to evade a polygraph examination, lie detector test, and had downloaded issues of IS' Dabiq magazine.
After travelling to China, the 27 year old flew to Jordan, where he was arrested, and told his parents he wanted to go to Mecca, adding that he did not intend to return home. During interrogation, Patel said he had been released from a prison in Jordan, and that he wanted to commit jihad and shaheed. The court affidavit filed by Pembroke said he praised last year's terrorist attack in Nice, France, the shooting at a night-club in Orlando, Florida, and the 2015 terrorist attack at a night-club in Paris. He said he was “so elated” by the success of the terrorist attacks that he “went to the gym and worked out hard.”
The affidavit said he praised late al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki. He told undercover FBI agents that he went to Jordan in part to find “like-minded Muslims” and wanted to do something “bigger, better, and more purposeful, including dying in the cause of Allah.” After returning to the US, Patel began applying for jobs, including the US Army and Air Force. In conversations with special agents, he said he supported Nidal Hassan, a former US Army Major who fatally shot 13 soldiers in 2009.
In an interview with an Army recruiter in December, last year, Patel denied travelling outside the US except for a single trip to India in 2011-12. He denied travelling anywhere in the last seven years, and told the same lie to an Air Force recruiter later. Pembroke, in his affidavit, said the FBI has discovered new information revealing that Patel had attempted to de-escalate his support for the IS in recent months.
