January 19 that a U.S. Army soldier was arrested in Georgia on the same day on charges of participating in terrorism.
Previously, the soldier talked online about plotting to blow up the 9/11 Memorial and other landmarks in New York City and attack American soldiers in the Middle East.
Nicholas Biss, a spokesman for federal prosecutors in Manhattan, New York, said that Cole James Bridges from Stowe, Ohio, has been arrested for attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organization Islamic State and for attempting to murder a member of the military.
The 20-year-old soldier was working in the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart Base in Georgia when he was arrested.
He was communicating with Islamic State terrorist group elements online. But what Bridges didn’t know was that an FBI staff member was also in the chat.
Bridges provided detailed strategies and operational manuals for attacking the 9/11 Memorial and other landmark buildings in New York City during the exchange.
“Luckily, Bridges was communicated with an FBI employee so we could stop his evil desire from being realized,” said William F. Sweeney, director of the FBI’s Office in New York.
Bridges joined the U.S. Army in September 2019 and was assigned to Fort Stewart as a scout, according to a criminal indictment in Manhattan federal court. Authorities said Bridges began to search for terrorism-related propaganda information on the Internet at some point.
He expressed his support for terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State on social media, and then began to contact an FBI employee disguised as “Islam” last October last year. Supporters of “country”.
The criminal indictment said that Bridges provided training and guidance to Islamic State militants who attempted to launch attacks, including the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.
It is also reported that he provided the other party with relevant content of the U.S. Army training manual and military combat tactical guidance.
The indictment also shows that Bridges also drew a chart of specific military exercises to help terrorist group militants kill American soldiers, including the best way to strengthen the camp to repel U.S.S. special forces, and how to install explosives on certain buildings to kill U.S. soldiers.
