Dayton Daily News

DAYTON MAN IS 5TH OHIOAN CHARGED FOR LINK TO ISIS

122 arrested in U.S. since 2014 on offenses related to terror group.

- WHIO-TV Reporter Natalie Jovonovich contribute­d to this report.

The Dayton man arrested Wednesday on charges accusing him of planning to join ISIS was the fifth Ohioan and 122nd person charged in the U.S. with similar offenses, according to data collected by a Washington D.C.-based group studying homegrown terrorism.

However, Laith Waleed Alebbini, 26, of Dayton, bucked recent trends when he tried to board an airplane at Cincinnati/Kentucky Internatio­nal Airport.

“We haven’t seen that many attempted travelers recently,” said Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

“Your guy’s a bit of a novelty,” Hughes said Friday after returning to the U.S. from a conference in Austria. “I think he missed his window if he wanted to travel.”

Hughes said ISIS had been urging recruits to focus on local actions, rather than trying to travel to Syria or Jordan.

“2015 was kind of the banner year for ISIS in America,” Hughes said, noting 61 people were arrested that year, compared to 10 so far this year.

“It’s a double-edged sword,” said Hughes, a recognized expert on homegrown violent extremism and countering violent extremism.

While unable to travel abroad to get training, the aspiring terrorists sometimes “turn inward” if forced to remain in the U.S.

“It causes a level of frustratio­n,” said Hughes, who previously worked at the National Counterter­rorism Center helping the U.S. government counter violent terrorism.

So far, 72 of those arrested have pleaded or been found guilty.

Alebbini remained in jail on Friday, scheduled for a detention hearing on May 2 in U.S. District Court. His first preliminar­y hearing is set for May 11.

Most of the other 50 charged with involvemen­t with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, or IS and ISIL, are also awaiting trial, according to data gathered by the Program on Extremism at at George Washington University.

Some wanted for their crimes live overseas and “are charged in absentia,” Hughes added.

The five arrests in Ohio don’t

include two notable incidents. Abdul Razak Ali Artan was fatally shot during an attack last November with a car and a knife at a parking garage at The Ohio State University. Mohammed Barry was fatally shot after attacking customers and police at a Columbus restaurant in February.

Of those charged, 44 percent were accused of attempting to travel or successful­ly traveled abroad, while 29 percent were accused of being involved in plots to carry out attacks on U.S. soil.

Alebbini is among 59 percent arrested from evidence gathered in part through a confidenti­al informant or undercover agent.

Hughes said this technique provides the FBI “a window in” and enables them to gather evidence on the suspect, assess the seriousnes­s and immediacy of the threat and determine the extent of his network (89 percent are male).

“Some FBI agents describe it as a controlled explosion,” Hughes said.

While noting the data represents a small number of people, Hughes said, “It is concerning nonetheles­s.”

On Thursday, Abdul Shahid, president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Dayton, said he hoped to use the local case to increase public awareness of Muslim teachings.

“It is very frustratin­g, but looking at it from a global point of view, this gives me an opportunit­y to explain about Islam, and it’s beautiful teachings, and it creates a need for people to hear about this,” he said at the Fazl-i-Umar Mosque in Dayton. “This is not the best way to go about it, but unfortunat­ely this is the need of the time.”

While ISIS resorts to violent means, Shahid said devout Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding people.

“That is what Islam gives us, an opportunit­y to live it in our lives, to be able to be successful, not only be successful, but be productive citizens of humanity, productive citizens of our country and be helpful, not hurtful as ISIS has been presenting.”

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