Texas 20-year-old planned to join ISIS, gave bomb-building tips, officials say

A 20-year-old Houston man arrested in 2017 for attempting to join the Islamic State pleaded guilty in federal court to “attempting to provide material support” to the terror group, U.S. attorneys said in a news release.

Kaan Sercan Damlarkaya was 18-years-old when he first attempted to join ISIS, the Houston Chronicle reported.

In early 2017, Damlarkaya began online communication with individuals he believed to be ISIS supporters, during which he expressed his desire to travel oversees to join the terrorist organization, U.S. attorneys said. Were that not possible, he vowed to carry out an attack on non-Muslim Americans, saying it was his “dream to be a martyr.”

But at least some of the people he was communicating with were informants and undercover FBI agents, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Damlarkaya also instructed the individuals in how to make a bomb as well as how to “construct an automatic weapon,” U.S. attorneys said. He also suggested ISIS supporters purchase machetes because “a lot of us are poor… or we don’t have experience. So not all of us can get a gun or make explosives, but we can afford to buy a $15 knife.”

After his arrest, officials found a machete near his bed, U.S. attorneys said.

Damlarkaya purchased a plane ticket to Instanbul, Turkey, before his arrest in December 2017, the Houston Chronicle reported. He’s believed to have been planning to travel from there to Syria to join ISIS.

Damlarkaya’s sentencing is set for September 30 when he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

This story was originally published July 8, 2019 at 5:09 PM.