(Reuters) – A federal grand jury has indicted a Maryland man on charges of attempting to murder an FBI agent and trying to provide support to Islamic State militants, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Nelash Das, 25, of Landover Hills, was arrested by federal agents in September 2016 as he was preparing to attack a U.S. military service member. He was accompanied by a person who was a paid FBI informant, court records show.
Das, a Bangladeshi citizen who is a legal U.S. resident, was indicted for attempting to provide support to the Islamic State from October 2015 to September 2016, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The statement and the indictment gave no details about the charge of attempting to murder an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Das also was indicted on a firearms offense.
Officials were not immediately available to comment.
The three-count indictment supersedes a charge filed shortly after his arrest.
Das told the informant that he was committed to attacking a military service member, adding, “That’s my goal in life,” according to an October 2016 affidavit.
Das remains in custody and if convicted faces up to life in prison. His attorney, federal public defender Julie Stelzig, did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; Editing by Dan Grebler)
