Domestic ISIS Supporter Accused Of Seeking To Bomb Super Bowl XLIX

Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, an ISIS supporter born and raised in Philadelphia, has been indicted on charges of plotting to bomb last season’s Super Bowl in Phoenix, according to the Daily Mail. Kareem allegedly planned to make and use explosives like pipe bombs to kill as many of Super Bowl XLIX’s 70,000 attendees as possible and has been linked to other terror organizations and plots.

Among Kareem’s charges is conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Kareem is alleged to be a supporter of ISIS. Other charges against Kareem include interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony and making false statements. Kareem also reportedly accessed an ISIS list of U.S. service members’ names and addresses.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the most recent indictment provides the strongest evidence yet of a link between Kareem and ISIS. Though no charge of formal communication between Kareem and ISIS was laid out in court documents, the list of military personnel that came from ISIS was sufficient to be regarded as material support. Reuters also reported that Kareem has been accused of supporting ISIS in social media posts and researching the possibility of training with terrorists in the Middle East, both of which add weight to his charges.

Kareem has a lengthy history of association with Islamic terror, including one famous case that happened earlier in 2015. In June, CNN reported Kareem’s involvement in the largely botched attack on right-wing agitator Pamela Geller’s “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, near Dallas. On May 3, two attackers – purportedly carrying a paper printout of an ISIS flag in their vehicle – opened fire on the Curtis Culwell Center. They were killed by police before they could kill anybody, but they did wound a security guard.

ISIS took credit for the attack, but according to prosecutors it was Kareem who supplied the gunmen, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, with training and ammunition. The trio ventured out into the Arizona desert to practice and transported the weaponry across state lines to commit violence in Texas.

At the time of his arrest in connection with the Garland attack, Kareem was working as a carpet cleaner at an Islamic center in Phoenix. Following his indictment, assistant US attorney Kristen Brook spoke of the danger Kareem posed to national security.

“This is an individual who is apt to incite violence… This defendant, based on all these facts, is dangerous. He is off-the-charts dangerous.”

Court documents, as reported by CNN, reveal a great deal of insight into Kareem’s ragtag, homegrown terrorist operation. In an attempt to raise money for various attacks, for instance, Kareem allegedly pretended to be injured in a car accident and tried to bilk an insurance company.

While preparing Simpson and Soofi for the Garland attack, Kareem allegedly spent months hosting the men at his house, showing them videos of Middle East warfare and ISIS executions, and encouraging them to commit violent acts in the US. The three men seemingly began to take their jihad seriously around December 2013, although the Daily Mail reported that Kareem was investigated by the FBI for having a terrorism training document on his computer as early as 2012.

Kareem’s lawyer, Dan Maynard, dismissed the June charges of complicity in the Garland attacks.

“This case is all smoke and mirrors, based on a confidential source that is not reliable at all… The government has tried its best to frighten everyone that this is a violent man. He is a normal citizen who just happens to believe in a different faith than most of us.”

Maynard has not yet commented publicly on the latest charges against Kareem. Kareem has been in custody and under investigation since his original indictment in June.

[Image via Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department via AP, File]