LAWRENCEVILLE, New Jersey – Karrem Nasr, a 23-year-old man from New Jersey, was arrested in Kenya earlier this month and brought back to the U.S. to face charges of attempting to provide material support to al-Shabab, a Somalia-based terror group affiliated with al-Qaida.
According to federal prosecutors in New York, Nasr was allegedly motivated by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and had expressed a strong desire to join and train with al-Shabab in order to execute violent jihad against the United States and its allies. Nasr, who moved to New Jersey from Egypt in July, allegedly communicated with someone he believed was an al-Shabab facilitator, but was actually a confidential FBI source.
The criminal complaint quotes messages with the confidential source and online postings in which Nasr expressed his desire to engage in jihad, stating that he was particularly motivated by the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel. In recent public social media posts, Nasr warned that ‘Jihad’ was “coming soon to a US location near you,” and posted airplane, bomb, and fire emojis.
Nasr, who had flown from Egypt to Kenya on December 14, had planned to transit into Somalia before Kenyan authorities took him into custody. He is now facing charges of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Federal officials and prosecutors are taking this case very seriously, citing Nasr’s alleged intent to carry out violent acts against the United States and its allies. Nasr is expected to make an appearance before a federal magistrate in Manhattan federal court to address the charges brought against him.