A young American who assumed the online identity of an
Australian jihadist has been arrested for an alleged plan
to bomb a September 11 memorial event, authorities said.
Joshua Ryne Goldberg, who was arrested in Florida,
has admitted to providing instructions on how to make a
pressure cooker bomb with the intent “to kill and injure
persons,” according to court doucments.
The 20-year-old’s directives included instructions on how
to fill the bomb “with nails, metal and other items dipped
in rat poison,” to be placed at a September 11 memorial in
Kansas City, Missouri, the US Department of Justice
said.
He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, the
department said.
Australian Federal Police confirmed they had helped the
Federal Bureau of Investigation track down the 20-
year-old man.
They alleged that Goldberg, who posed online as
“Australi Witness,” had “provided information over the
Internet in an attempt to facilitate and encourage
terrorist acts in Australia” as well.
Goldberg’s arrest, which was authorized Wednesday by a
US judge, came as Americans prepared for the 14th
anniversary of the September 11 attacks that brought
down the World Trade Center in New York and
destroyed part of the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000
people.
Australian authorities, who raised the nation’s terror
alert to high a year ago, said US investigators took over
when the Australians determined the person responsible
for the threats was likely in the United States.
Australian Federal Police’s acting deputy commissioner
for national security Neil Gaughan said the alleged
assailant had presumed he was safe.
“This man thought that he could willingly and maliciously
distribute disturbing information via the Internet and
never have his identity discovered,” Gaughan said.
“This operation again highlights how law enforcement can
investigate people in the online space and use our long-
established partnerships to work with overseas agencies to
bring people to account for their actions.”
Australia, which is part of the US-led coalition against
Islamic State in the Middle East, has been increasingly
concerned about the radicalization of its youth.
Some 120 Australians are still fighting with IS in Iraq
and Syria, while at least 30 have been killed. Another
160 sympathizers are believed to be supporting jihadists
from home.
To combat the problem, Canberra has raised its terror
threat alert level to high, introduced new national
security laws and conducted several counter-terrorism
raids.
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