Man sentenced to nine years in prison for attempting to provide material support to ISIS and planning an attack in New York City

A New York man was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison followed by 15 years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, in connection with his efforts to attack civilians with a knife in Queens, New York.

The Department of Justice, reported that Awais Chudhary, a 25-year-old resident of Queens, pleaded guilty in the Eastern District of New York to attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

According to court documents, in 2019, Chudhary pledged allegiance to then-ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and began planning a stabbing or bombing attack on behalf of the group. Chudhary identified targets, including the pedestrian bridges over Grand Central Parkway and the Flushing Bay boardwalk, where he intended to carry out the attacks. Chudhary conducted several reconnaissance missions to these locations and videotaped the areas he intended to attack.

"Awais Chudhary pledged allegiance to a brutal terrorist organization and set out to kill American citizens," said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

"Our prosecutors have ensured that he will spend years behind bars for his crimes, and the Department of Justice will continue to protect the American people from all threats foreign and domestic," she added.

In that regard, FBI Director, Kash Patel indicated that "Awais Chudhary planned a horrific knife attack in the name of ISIS on civilians in New York, but his plan failed."

According to court documents, Chudhary solicited advice from people he believed to be ISIS sympathizers, including information on what type of knife to use and how to avoid detection by law enforcement by avoiding leaving traces of fingerprints or DNA.

Chudhary also sent a screenshot from an ISIS propaganda magazine that included a diagram of the human body showing where to stab victims with a knife.

"Before planning his specific violent attack, Chudhary separately contributed to ISIS’s violent aims to help recruit English-speaking internet users to the group’s hateful cause. Working with another ISIS member who was separately convicted of material support charges, Chudhary assisted ISIS in its propaganda efforts by helping to translate some of the group’s propaganda materials into English," the Justice Department said.