'Ali Kourani was recruited, trained, and deployed by Hezbollah to plan and execute acts of terrorism around New York,' U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said.
"With so much focus rightly on ISIS and self-radicalized terrorists currently, the public may not realize the established, historical extremist groups are still operating and actively recruiting members," Sweeney said.
Kourani told the FBI that he got his first training from Hezbollah at age 16 in his home country of Lebanon. Training at the Hezbollah camp included military tactics and how to fire an AK-47 assault rifle and a rocket launcher. During the search of the defendant's apartment, the FBI found a "go-bag" in the front closet with cash and identification documents.Kourani moved to the U.S. in 2003. He told the FBI he was not formally recruited by Hezbollah until 2008, when he joined the group's international arm, known variously as the IJO, the External Security Organization, or 910.
Kourani purchased ice packs in order to repurpose their ammonium nitrate pellets for explosives, say prosecutors. According to court documents, Kourani"went to China to develop connections to potential suppliers of ammonium nitrate in 2009, at a time when the IJO was in the early phases of planning attacks using the explosive chemical."Stashes of the ice packs were found around the world between 2012 and 2015.
Between 2009 and 2015, Kourani told the FBI he also surveilled at least four federal buildings in New York City at the request of Hezbollah, including offices of the FBI and the Secret Service, shooting video. Hezbollah supporters shout slogans and wave Lebanese, Hezbollah and Iran flags during a rally to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution in southern Beirut on Feb. 6, 2019.Kourani's first brush with U.S. law enforcement was not for terrorism but for counterfeiting, which Hezbollah operatives have long used to finance operations in the U.S.
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