Man accused of sending bomb-making instructions to people who support 'violent jihad'

Tayyab Tahir Ismail, 33, arrested Friday during FBI raid in Pembroke Pines

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – A Pembroke Pines man was arrested Friday on accusations that he sent bomb-making instructions on at least five occasions this year to a mobile messaging platform, which contained members who support "violent jihad," authorities said.

According to an arrest warrant, the instructions were sent in July, August and September. 

Authorities said Tayyab Tahir Ismail, 33, who was born in Pakistan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was a member of various rooms within the platform. Each of the rooms in question contained members who support terrorist activities, authorities said.

FBI agents raid the Pembroke Pines home of Tayyab Tahir Ismail on Dec. 14.

The arrest warrant stated that investigators determined that Ismail would get information via Google searches and then post the same material to the platform within minutes.

According to the warrant, the FBI first investigated Ismail in 2010 when a complainant reported that he had made terroristic threats at a homeless shelter.

Authorities said in that case Ismail had said the government kept Americans drugged to keep them unaware of what the government was doing and told people he was an "al-Qaida soldier," and used the phrase "blow it up."

Authorities said he also discussed how to make a bomb with various household materials and said, "We throw women like her in the ditch," when he was insulted by a woman.

According to the arrest warrant, Ismail was a close associate of James Gonzalo Medina between July 2015 and April 2016. 

Medina was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction at a synagogue in Aventura.

Ismail was taken into custody Friday at his home in the Laguna Isles subdivision. He is charged with distributing information pertaining to the manufacture or use of an explosive, destructive device or weapon of mass destruction.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count of unlawfully distributing information. In addition, he faces up to three years of supervised release and up to a $250,000 fine on each count of conviction.

Ismail had his first appearance in federal court Monday morning. A detention hearing is scheduled before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry S. Seltzer, in Fort Lauderdale, on Dec. 26.

 


About the Author:

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.