Awais Chudhary, a 25-year-old resident of Queens, New York, was sentenced to nine years in prison for attempting to provide material support to ISIS. The sentencing took place before United States District Judge Carol Bagley Amon in Brooklyn.
Chudhary was convicted for his efforts to carry out a knife attack on civilians in Queens after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which is designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Prosecutors said he scouted locations such as pedestrian bridges over the Grand Central Parkway and the Flushing Bay Promenade, made video recordings of potential targets, and ordered items online including a tactical knife, mask, gloves, and recording equipment intended for use during the planned attack.
According to law enforcement officials, Chudhary sought advice from individuals he believed were ISIS supporters about how best to carry out the attack and avoid detection by authorities. He also sent images from an ISIS propaganda magazine showing diagrams of where to stab victims with a knife.
United States Attorney General Pamela Bondi commented on the sentencing: “Awais Chudhary pledged allegiance to a brutal terrorist organization and set out to kill American citizens. Our prosecutors have ensured that he will spend years behind bars for his crimes, and the Department of Justice will continue to protect the American people from all threats foreign and domestic.”
United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. stated: “After consuming violent ISIS propaganda for more than a year, the defendant took real world steps to carry out a lethal terrorist attack in Queens, including scouting the location of his attack and analyzing when it would be the most crowded so he could inflict maximum slaughter. Thanks to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Chudhary was stopped before anyone was harmed.”
FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia said: “Today, Awais Chudhary received a well-deserved punishment for his deliberate plans – motivated by ISIS’s barbaric propaganda – to conduct a mass casualty terrorist attack in Queens. The FBI New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force remains vigilant and determined to defend our country from the evils of terrorism.”
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch added: “Awais Chudhary pledged allegiance to a foreign terrorist organization, actively helped to recruit individuals to join ISIS, and planned to commit a mass knife attack in Queens. Chudhary’s plan to cause terror was stopped because of the women and men in law enforcement — and today, our justice system is holding him accountable. I would like to thank our NYPD investigators as well as our partners at the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their work hard work and determination.”
Authorities reported that prior to planning his specific violent act, Chudhary contributed further by helping recruit English-speaking internet users for ISIS through translation work on propaganda materials with another member who has since been convicted.
The prosecution was led by Assistant United States Attorneys Ellen H. Sise, Lindsey R. Oken, Andrew D. Reich from the National Security and Cybercrime Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern District of New York; they were assisted by Trial Attorney Kevin Nunnally from DOJ’s Counterterrorism Section.
Chudhary was arrested while trying to collect items ordered online from a retailer’s locker in Queens.
