Latest FBI terror sting nabs DC transit cop

The US Justice Department has announced that a police officer for Washington's transit system faces terrorism charges for trying to aid "Islamic State." According to the Justice Department, officials arrested 36-year-old Nicholas Young for attempting to provide material support to a terrorist group after he tried to send $245 (220 euros) in messaging credit to IS via an FBI informant.

Prosecutors say Metro Transit Police initiated the investigation and worked with the FBI. "Obviously, the allegations in this case are profoundly disturbing," Paul Wiedefeld, the Metro system's embattled general manager, said in a statement released Wednesday. "They're disturbing to me, and they're disturbing to everyone who wears the uniform."

Joshua Stueve, the spokesman for the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Young hadn't posed a threat to the Metro system. Nevertheless, transit spokesman Dan Stessel said the agency had fired Young, who had worked for Metro since 2003.

Controversial FBI tactic

Young had apparently sent emails to undercover agents about supporting IS and met with the informant assigned to him at least 20 times. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted in the sting, a tactic that the FBI has increasingly relied upon to arrest people who have not yet committed a crime, and one that has been repeatedly referred to as entrapment. In many cases, law enforcement officers themselves supply suspects with the means of carrying out attacks and then arrest them beforehand.

The FBI had kept tabs on Young since 2010. He traveled to Libya twice in 2011 to fight against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi and had also had contact with at least two people who have since pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in US courts.

In 2010, officials linked Young to Zachary Chesser, who would eventually plead guilty to trying to join the Somali group al-Shabab, as well as to threatening the creators of the "South Park" cartoon after an episode that mocked Islam. Young also met regularly with Amine El Khalifi, who pleaded guilty after an FBI sting led him to believe that he would attempt a suicide bombing at the US Capitol in 2012.

Young had apparently frequently advised the FBI source assigned to him to watch out for informants. Now, Young could become the first US law enforcement officer convicted of terrorism.

Geographically, Young represents less of an anomaly: Government stings have led to terror charges against a half dozen of his neighbors in northern Virginia. The FBI has announced ongoing terror investigations in all 50 US states.

mkg/kms (Reuters, dpa, AP)