Awais Chudhary pleads guilty on charge of attempting to provide material support to ISIS  

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Awais Chudhary, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, pleaded guilty August 26, 2022, in federal court in Brooklyn to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

The proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy.  When sentenced, Chudhary faces up to 20 years in prison, according to an FBI press release from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon S. Peace.

“Awais Chudhary has admitted to planning to carry out a lone wolf terrorist attack in Queens against innocent civilians in an embrace of ISIS’s murderous cause,” United States Attorney Peace is quoted saying in the press release.  Peace credited the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), with disrupting the plot.  able to successfully disrupt his plot, keeping our city safe from this

According to court filings, in August 2019, and the press release, after watching violent terrorist propaganda videos, Chudhary pledged his allegiance to ISIS’s then-leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and began planning for a knife or bomb attack as a lone wolf ISIS supporter.

According to investigators, Chudhary identified targets, including the pedestrian bridges over the Grand Central Parkway and the Flushing Bay Promenade, where he intended to carry out the attacks.  Chudhary sought guidance from individuals whom he believed to be ISIS supporters, including what type of knife to use and how to prevent detection from law enforcement by not leaving “traces of finger prints [or] DNA.”

Investigators found evidence that Chudhary also sent a screenshot of a document from an ISIS propaganda magazine that included a diagram of the human body depicting where to stab victims with a knife.  Chudhary conducted several reconnaissance trips to these locations and made video recordings of the areas he intended to attack, the press release noted.

Chudhary ordered items online that he intended to use to commit a terrorist attack, including a tactical knife, a mask, gloves, and a cellphone chest and head strap to facilitate his recording of the attack, which he hoped would serve as inspiration to other ISIS supporters.  Chudhary was arrested as he attempted to retrieve the items from an online retailer’s locker in Queens, the press release said.