A Florida man was arrested on his way out of Miami International Airport after being reported that he's on his way to join Islamic State militants fighting in Syria.
Gregory Hubbard, 52, along with two other men, were charged by the FBI with conspiring and attempt to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIS or ISIL.
According to the complaint, the three men met regularly over the past year with an FBI informant as they conducted combat training and praised recent terrorist attacks in Orlando and San Bernardino.
The men referred ISIS as "soccer team," participating in jihadist attacks as "playing soccer" and an AK-47 assault rifle as "the Bible." They also discussed attacking members of the U.S. military in their neighborhood and even planned on attacking the White House.
Hubbard was charged along with Darren Jackson, 50, of West Palm Beach and Dayne Christian, 31, of Lake Park. The men each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Christian also faces an additional charge of felon in possession of a firearm.
According to the complaint, Hubbard first told the FBI informant that he was thinking of joining ISIL on April 11, 2015, and then emailed the informant a 100-page manual that explained the basics of the extremist group.
Over the next few months, the two met regularly, discussing recent terrorist attacks and listening to sermons by Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen and Islamic preacher who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
They also discussed the tragedy in Orlando that left 49 people dead. Christian allegedly called the Pulse nightclub as "a soft target" and that "it was an added bonus that they were gay."
Jackson and Christian soon joined to provide guns, ammunition and training to Hubbard as he prepared to join the terrorist organization. The FBI informant helped Hubbard secure his passport and purchase a round-trip plane ticket to Germany.
From Germany, Hubbard planned on taking a bus to Turkey and then cross the border to Syria to join the fight. But federal agents immediately swooped in after checking in for their flights in Miami.
Source: USA Today
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