Britain has extradited a Vietnamese national to the United States to face charges that he aided and received military training in Yemen from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Justice Department disclosed Tuesday.
The case underscores the global reach of the FBI, New York Police Department and U.S. Justice Department as they resort to tough law enforcement tools in a crackdown aimed at deterring young men and women from joining al-Qaida branches, the Islamic State or other Islamic radical groups aiming to harm Americans.
The 32-year-old suspect, Minh Quang Pham, is a resident of the United Kingdom. In disclosing his The department gave no indication that he ever has lived in the United States.
Pham “surreptitiously traveled from the UK to Yemen in late 2010 and received terrorist training” by the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, said Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“During the half year he spent in Yemen, Pham allegedly vowed to wage jihad, swore bayat (allegiance) and provided material support to high-level (al-Qaida) members, almost always brandishing a Kalashnikov rifle.”
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for the attempted 2009 Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit –bound passenger yet and for a 2010 plot to plant explosives aboard U.S.-bound cargo planes.
If convicted of all five felony counts against him, Pham faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years in prison and up to life in prison.
According to a 2012 indictment by a federal grand jury in New York:
--Pham told his wife in December 2010 that he would be traveling to Ireland, he flew to Yemen, the principal base of operations for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which was designed a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department earlier that year.
--In Yemen, Pham stayed at several al-Qaida safe houses in the spring of 2011 and met multiple times with an unidentified person who later became a cooperating witness for the United States. The witness had learned about Pham from an American who was a prominent member of the al-Qaida branch, a figure who was not identified but appears to have been the cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
--The witness also reported seeing Pham working closely with another deceased al-Qaida figure, believed to be Samir Khan, a Charlotte, N.C. resident who had edited and published the glossy internet magazine Inspire, which al-Qaida used to inspire to cultivate western sympathizers.
The unnamed witness told U.S. authorities that Pham was providing valuable assistance to the men believed to be al-Awlaki and Khan in the production of Inspire.
Both Khan and al-Awlaki died on Sept. 30, 2011 when an unmanned U.S. drone fired a missile at the vehicle in which they were riding through the desert. Al-Awlaki was the target.
Pham was searched and detained upon his return to the United Kingdom on July 27, 2011 and was arrested June 29, 2012 at the request of U.S. authorities. Early last month, a British judge denied his challenge to the United States’ extradition request.
Pham is charged with conspiring to provide material support to the al-Qaida branch, providing material support to al-Qaida, conspiring to receive military-type training from the terror group, receiving military-type training and with using, carrying and possessing a machine guy in furtherance of crimes of violence.
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