Al-Qaida Affiliated Terrorists Helped Philly Teen Make Bombs: FBI

PHILADELPHIA — A teenage West Philadelphia resident has been taken into custody and charged after authorities said he was communicating with a terrorist group affiliated with Al-Qaida.

FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Field Office Jacqueline Maguire announced Monday charges have been filed against a 17-year-old.

The teen, authorities said, was communicating with Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, which in 2022 was designated a terrorist organization that has ties to Al-Qaida.

According to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, the boy, whose identity has not been released due to him being a juvenile, is charged with weapons of mass destruction, arson, recklessly endangering another person, and more crimes.

Krasner said his office will seek to have the case moved to adult court.

The boy is in custody after authorities executed search warrants at two locations on Friday.

Maguire said the boy not only was communicating with the group, he was purchasing materials commonly used in constructing explosive devices after getting guidance online regarding explosive construction.

On Aug. 7, FBI special agents saw the boy buying materials that can be used to make improvised explosive devices.

Those purchases included tactical gear, wiring, chemicals, and more. Maguire noted the teen had begun assembling devices at the time of his arrest.

Authorities said investigators found these materials in the teen's household trash.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection records showed 14 international shipments of military and tactical gear to the teen's address.

These purchases are what led authorities to expedite the investigation as the threat to the public increased.

Additionally, the teen had access to many firearms, Maguire said. Details on where those firearms were located and who they belonged to were not released.

There were no specific targets that the teen had identified, Maguire said. She did say the boy did "general research" on into potential targets.

Maguire said the teen was even planning to go overseas to join or support the group.

Authorities did not specify how the teen came into contact with the group, but Maguire said the internet has made such groups more effective at radicalizing Americans.

Investigators with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force were able to connect a Meta (aka Instagram) social media account that communicated with an account affiliated with the group in March and April this year to the teen.

Also, a WhatsApp account linked to the teen's phone number was also found by investigators to have a banner of Riyad-us-Saliheen Martyrs’ Brigade, a Chechnya-based terrorist group, as its profile photo.

On Aug. 6, according to the Task Force, the juvenile’s WhatsApp profile photo was changed to the image of the ISIS banner.

Authorities said the group is believed to primarily operate in Syria and is responsible for incidents such as the deadly April 2017 attack on the St. Petersburg, Russia, metro and the 2016 suicide car bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.