Via Clarion:
New details emerged about the ISIS plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty from recently-filed court documents.
The perpetrators of the foiled attack, Munther Omar Saleh, 21, and Fareed Mumuni, 22, both from New York, pleaded guilty to conspiring to support ISIS and plotting the bombing in February 2017.
Ahead of Saleh’s sentencing, scheduled for February 8, 2018, court filings show that the pair received instructions on how to build the pressure bomb they had planned to use from Junaid Hussain, a top ISIS recruiter and hacker from the UK.
Hussain, who was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Raqqa, Syria in 2015, directed fellow ISIS militants in the U.S. to behead counter-jihad activist Pamela Geller and was linked to the attack on her in Garland, Texas. Hussain was also thought to be responsible for publicizing a list of addresses and photos of U.S. military personnel.
Hussain, 21 at the time of his death, was listed as number three on the U.S. Islamic State hit list and was linked to 30 jihadi plots around the world.
Another key jihadi involved in the plot was Australian ISIS kingpin Neil Prakash, considered one of the most dangerous ISIS terrorists. Prakash, 26, is currently in Turkish custody awaiting possible extradition to Australia.
Saleh was in contact with Prakash (also known as Abu Khalid al Kambodi or simply Abukambozz to his followers) to verify if an FBI source was really a member of ISIS. The FBI source made contact online with Saleh in May 2015 soon after Saleh received instructions on how to build the pressure bomb. It was to be similar to the one used in the Boston Marathon bombing of 2013.
Along with the Statue of Liberty, Saleh and Mumuni also planned a bomb attack in New York City’s iconic Times Square, located in midtown Manhattan. Saleh faces a possible sentence of up to 56 years in prison