ISIS-leader wannabe plotted terror acts from grandparents’ Detroit home

From his grandparents’ home in Detroit, the feds say, Jibreel Pratt was meticulously building a dream to join a terrorist group in the Middle East.

He wanted to fight for ISIS, officials say, and bought airline tickets, special boots, a gas mask and other gear to prepare for his mission; videotaped himself pledging his allegiance to ISIS; and wrote goodbye letters to his family, telling his father: “Things just weren’t working out for me.”

“In Pratt’s own words, he planned on ‘leaving everything behind’ because ‘these people are savages. Like rabid dogs,'” federal prosecutors allege in court documents.

But what the 25-year-old didn’t know while he was plotting his mission, the government says, is that the FBI was watching.

Feds: Pratt confided in undercover informant; hid cellphone and gun in dogfood

In U.S. District Court this week, Pratt was indicted on charges of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) in the spring of 2023 after months of communicating with an undercover informant who pretended to be a travel facilitator with ISIS. Pratt was arrested Tuesday morning after federal agents raided his grandparents’ home where they found, among other things, a loaded gun and cell phone hidden in a container of dog food, and ammo stashed inside a wall.

This is especially noteworthy, the government says, because Pratt isn’t supposed to have any guns under the bond conditions of his other criminal case: He was charged nine months ago — and released on bond — for allegedly participating in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme that the government says kept him financially afloat.

“Pratt had sporadic employment over the last few years, but was still able to accumulate several firearms, ammunition, combat gear, an apartment and sophisticated computer equipment,” prosecutors allege in court documents. “And his cellphone showed that he had somehow accumulated over $102,000 in Bitcoin.”
‘Delete Everything … I was captured’

Prosecutors disclosed this information as part of a broader effort to keep Pratt locked up on his latest criminal charges, arguing he is a danger to society and a flight risk.

“Just before he was arrested on his federal crypto case, Pratt told the (informant) that ‘I am ready to leave this place, for good.’ And these were not empty words,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys … wrote in their latest filing, stressing Pratt went to great lengths to avoid detection.

After getting bond, Pratt “immediately got a new phone” and sent this message to the informant:“DELETE EVERYTHING … I WAS CAPTURED AND NOW RELEASED. I WILL CONTACT YOU SAFELY SOON.”

In the next days, Pratt followed up with: “The future is uncertain, I need to leave brother.”

According to prosecutors, Pratt’s crypto charges “did not dissuade him from his path to ISIS.”
‘They should be worried about me’

“Instead,” prosecutors allege, “he told the (informant) that his ‘drive and determination has not lowered butincreased’ … (and) warned that ‘I am no longer worried about these people, if anything, they should be worried about me.’”

Pratt was ordered temporarily detained pending a Thursday hearing. His lawyer, Benton Martin, was not readily available for comment.

Federal prosecutors, meanwhile, have offered a detailed look into Pratt’s alleged plot to join what U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison has described as “one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world.”

“These charges reflect our commitment to hold accountable anyone who tries to help terrorists,” Ison said in a statement Tuesday.

Suicide drones, explosive remote control cars, bitcoin transfers

According to court records, Pratt engaged in numerous criminal acts as part of his alleged plan to join ISIS, including:

He devised a scheme to use suicide drones and remote control cars loaded with deadly explosives.

He sent an FBI informant more than 30 handwritten “personal plans” stating he wanted to create a “specialized unit for intelligence based operations” that will “kill or kidnap without detection.”

He sketched and sent tactical diagrams for fighting against and using explosives in doorways to kill American soldiers.

He twice sent bitcoin payments to the informant to support ISIS: One was for $350, the other for $546 — though both went into a government wallet.

He “targeted and doxed a citizen who he mistakenly identified” as the federal agent who arrested him in the crypto case.

He plotted to flee after his arrest in the crypto case, buying a Delta Airlines ticket to Istanbul, Turkey, and a passport photo from a CVS to be used in a fraudulent passport that would include a fake name and fake date of birth, but fairly accurate height, weight, hair and eye color.

‘He was willing to create a terrorist cell here’

Pratt’s case began in early February 2023, when he used an encrypted WhatsApp number to contact an informant who was posing as an ISIS travel facilitator. His WhatsApp profile picture was a photo of Anwar al-Awlak, an Islamic lecturer and Al-Qaeda leader who helped plan the foiled 2009 bombing of Northwest Flight 253, bound for Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

In the months that followed, the government says, Pratt repeatedly expressed his support for ISIS and his desireto leave America and serve as an ISIS leader overseas.

“Pratt said he was already ‘doing something illegal here’ like ‘stealing crypto, and that he had a computer hacking skill called ‘Penetration Testing,’ which means to ‘breach companies’ systems,'” prosecutors allege in court filings. “Pratt said he would ‘be a big asset’ for ISIS.”

According to the government, Pratt also communicated with a second FBI informant in late 2023, sharing with him his plan to join ISIS.

While Pratt’s main goal was to serve ISIS overseas, the government says, “he was also willing to create a terrorist cell here,” and developed plans for ISIS “to operate in the shadows” so the group could kill as many non-Muslims as possible.

And he was armed.

He hid weapons in his home, including an an AR-style semiautomatic rifle, and carried a handgun that he was willing to use, the government says, alleging Pratt “bragged” to an informant that “he was packing,” and once threatened to shoot a man who raised his voice to him at a gas station.

Pratt has not been charged with carrying out any violent acts, or actually joining a terrorist groups. The government says this doesn’t matter.

Feds: Pratt’s unfulfilled goal is irrelevant

“The fact that Pratt has not yet fulfilled his goal of traveling to fight for ISIS does not lessen his danger to the community,” prosecutors allege. “Quite the opposite. Pratt told the (informant) that he wanted to “start here . . . and create the cell here” because “if my job is related to cells, we should establish here prior to my departure.”

In early July 2023, Pratt moved from his grandparents’ Detroit home on Bentler to an apartment on Tamarack Street in Wixom. He was still collecting money for his overseas trip. By the end of August 2023, he told the informant: “I am ready to leave this place, for good.”

But the FBI had other plans. On Aug. 26, 2023, FBI agents arrested Pratt at Detroit Metro Airport for his alleged role in a computer fraud scheme involving an illicit online marketplace named Genesis Market. According to the government, Pratt used the market to buy nearly 14,000 stolen credentials containing banking and cryptocurrency account information.

At the time of his arrest, Pratt was headed to New York, but wound up in federal court instead. He was released on bond, unaware that he was the target of a broader investigation involving his support of ISIS.
A farewell letter to his father

While searching his Wixom apartment in 2023, the FBI found undated handwritten letters inside Islamicbooks on the windowsill of Pratt’s bedroom, next to the bed. One letter was addressed to “PawPaw,” an apparent reference to his grandfather, whom he thanked for all he had done for him.

The other letter was marked for “Dad.”

“Take care of yourself and be safe,” Pratt wrote to his father. “Things were just not working out for me no matter what I did or tried. We all have our own paths in life while mine could be cut short, I just hope one day you come to know true Islam so we can meet in Jannah. If not, I love you and it was nice meeting you and the many laughs.”

Source » yahoo