South Carolina Teen Convicted of Supporting ISIS

A 19-year-old South Carolina resident pleaded guilty on Wednesday to attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

Zakaryia Abdin, 19, of Ladson, purchased weapons and created a social media account attempting to join ISIS. He also sought a handler to get him overseas to Syria or Egypt to make contact with the terrorist organization,according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Abdin's attempt to provide material support to ISIS by traveling overseas put American lives at risk," said Assistant Attorney General Demers. "That is unacceptable, and I applaud the dedicated agents and prosecutors who stopped him and have achieved this successful outcome."

Abdin was arrested by the FBI at Charleston International Airport in March of last year when he attempted to board a plane to travel overseas to support ISIS.

The DOJ said Abdin began his efforts to join the terrorist organization in January 2017 when he created a social media account. He visited the FBI in Mount Pleasant to meet with a special agent from the Joint Terrorism Task Force, who advised him about the FBI's counterterrorism investigations and the illegality of providing support to foreign terrorist organizations.

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