Pembroke Pines Man Pleads Guilty To Posting Bomb-Making Instructions For Extremists Online
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A Pembroke Pines man pled guilty Thursday to charges of posting detailed bomb-making instructions to online sites frequented by extremists who support violent jihad.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Tayyab Tahir Ismail, 33, pled guilty to Count 2 of an indictment that charged him with distributing information pertaining to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction.
Ismail is scheduled to be sentenced on May 23. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, up to 5 years of supervised release and up to $250,000 fine.
Court records show Ismail, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, posted illegal bomb instructions on at least five occasions between July and September 2018. He also posted numerous other messages of support for the Islamic State and did searches on how to build bombs.
"You are surrounded by methods to hit them. Kill the devil's soldiers without hesitation. Make them bleed even in their own homes," read one message Ismail shared online. "There are plenty of methods to attack my brother."
One of the bomb-making videos Ismail shared online showed an instructor with a black scarf covering his face and wearing military fatigues. The video on how to make a bomb in a kitchen also shows a black flag in the background that the FBI says is associated with the Islamic State group.
According to the FBI affidavit at the time of his arrest, explosives experts believe the bomb instructions posted by Ismail were accurate and could lead someone to build a dangerous device.
The FBI affidavit also said Ismail was an associate of James Medina, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for plotting to blow up a South Florida synagogue and Jewish school. The two lived together while Medina was working on his 2016 plot, which was an undercover FBI sting operation using a fake bomb.
"On the day Medina attempted to bomb the synagogue, Ismail learned of Medina's plans to move forward and conduct the attack, but he did not alert law enforcement," the FBI affidavit said.
After Medina's arrest, Ismail surrendered several firearms at authorities' request according to court documents, but he was not charged in that case.
The FBI says it has been aware of Ismail since October 2010, when he allegedly made terrorism threats at a Florida homeless shelter, claiming he was an "al-Qaida soldier" and would "blow it up." He also responded to an insult from a woman by allegedly saying, "We throw women like her in the ditch."
