Authorities arrested an Illinois Army National Guardsman after he attempted to travel to Libya and fight with the Islamic State and join his cousin in a plot to attack a U.S. military installation and kill scores, the Washington Post reports. Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that Hasan Rasheed Edmonds, 22, and his cousin Jonas Marcel Edmonds, 29, both of Aurora, Ill., were charged with conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
FBI agents intercepted Hasan Edmonds at Chicago Midway International Airport on Wednesday evening before he was able to board a flight to Detroit and ultimately make his way to Cairo via Amsterdam. His cousin was taken into custody without incident at his home after taking Hasan Edmonds to the airport. The two men appeared in federal court Thursday where a judge ordered them held. Prosecutors said Hasan Edmonds, a specialist in the Illinois Army National Guard, came to the attention of the FBI late last year when investigators learned that he intended to use his military training on behalf of the Islamic State.