Broward man pleads guilty to distributing bomb-making instructions over the web
A South Florida man who posted bomb-making instructions on the internet while expressing his support for Islamic extremism pleaded guilty Thursday to a terrorism-related charge in Miami federal court.
Tayyab Tahir Ismail, 34, of Pembroke Pines admitted he used a mobile messaging platform to distribute information on making weapons of mass destruction at least four times over the past summer, according to a statement filed with his plea agreement.
Ismail now faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing May 23 before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore.
“Ismail was a member of various rooms within the platform and each of these rooms contained members who support violent jihad,” according to an FBI arrest affidavit filed by federal prosecutor Karen Gilbert. Among them: supporters of ISIS, the notorious Middle Eastern terrorist group known for videotaping the killings of Western hostages.
No live explosives were linked to the bomb-making designs he distributed on the internet.
Ismail, who was born in Pakistan and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, had been on the FBI’s radar for a number of years. The affidavit says he was a “close associate” of James Gonzalo Medina, a Hollywood man who pleaded guilty in 2017 to trying to blow up an Aventura synagogue and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Ismail’s arrest follows a similar indictment filed in August against Samuel Baptiste, who posted online documents on how to make explosives. Baptiste, who is currently in prison on a firearms conviction, was charged with distributing the unlawful bomb designs as well as with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, ISIS.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 5:53 PM.
