Muhammad Masood, Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS, Minnesota 2022

A former research coordinator at a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota was sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Muhammad Masood, 31, a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was sentenced on August 16, 2022 to 216 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to court documents, Masood used an encrypted messaging application to facilitate his travel overseas to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) between January 2020 and March 2020.

Masood made multiple statements about his desire to join ISIS and pledged his allegiance to the designated terrorist organization and its leader. He also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States.

On February 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria. However, on March 16, 2020, Masood’s travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Masood then agreed to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he believed would assist him with travel via cargo ship to deliver him to ISIS territory.

On March 19, 2020, Masood traveled from Rochester to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to board a flight bound for Los Angeles, California. Upon arrival at MSP, Masood checked in for his flight and was subsequently arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Masood pleaded guilty on August 16, 2022 to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

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