Texas teen gets 20 years in prison for recruiting terrorists for Pakistan

A Texas teenager was sentenced to 20 years in prison for recruiting another American to join a Pakistani terrorist group. Writes about this New York Post.

Фото: Depositphotos

18-year-old Michael Kyle Sewell of Arlington, Texas, was arrested after an FBI investigation that revealed that he was exchanging a series of online messages with two secret operatives who posed as radical Islamic extremists associated with Lashkar-i-Taiba.

The group, also known as LeT, is based in Pakistan and is accused of training terrorists who killed about 170 people in Mumbai, India, on 4 days in November 2008.

In one of the conversations, Sewell said he wanted to join LeT, but he needed several years to get in shape, undergo an operation to improve his eyesight and raise money for flights to Pakistan, the investigation report said.

Around the same time, Sewell also contacted an unidentified US citizen whose social media account was flagged with ISIS.

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During online conversations between 3 and 8 on November 2018, the man "told Sewell that he wanted to go to heaven and be a warrior of God."

Sewell objected to this, saying that ISIS “has no territory” and invited him to join LeT or the Taliban.

Sewell also gave this person contact information for one of the FBI’s secret officers, who, he said, “was in Pakistan and could help him get to LeT.”

During an online conversation with an agent under cover of 9 on November 2018, Sewell vouched for a rookie, saying his “intentions are clear.”

The operative said LeT needed more recruits, and thanked Sewell for agreeing to help.

19 DECEMBER 2018 of the year the man recruited by Sewell told the operative that he had bought a ticket for a flight from John F. Kennedy Airport (New York) to London (Britain).

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The court documents did not say what happened to the recruit.

Also attached to the case are the detailed outrageous statements that Sewell made on social media in support of Islamic extremism, including saying that he hated Americans and that “Allah wanted to turn him into a murder machine.”

After his arrest, Sewell admitted that he investigated the history of LeT and knew that the United States declared him a terrorist group.

Sewell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

In addition to imprisonment, Sewell was sentenced to 30 years of controlled release, during which he must “engage in psychiatric rehabilitation as directed” and have software on his computer to monitor his behavior.

However, federal judge of Fort Worth (Texas) Reed O'Connor canceled a fine of $ 250 000, as Sewell does not have the financial resources or earning potential in the future.

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