Another day, another another jihad attack thwarted in the Metroplex:
Texas law enforcement officials said they have foiled an alleged ISIS-inspired attack on a north Texas mall with the arrest of a teenager whom authorities said tried to recruit others to join his planned attack.
Matin Azizi-Yarand, 17, of Plano was arrested on Tuesday on charges he was plotting to shoot up the Stonebriar Centre Mall in neighboring Frisco, Texas, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis announced in a statement.
Law enforcement officials say Azizi-Yarand had sent more than $1,400 to others for the purchase of weapons and body-armor. Authorities allege that he was planning to carry out the attack in mid-May. Officials say the teen also planned to “disseminate” a “Message to America” explaining the motives behind the alleged plot.
Azizi-Yarand talked online with undercover FBI confidential sources about his desire to either “make Hijrah [a Muslim term meaning to travel to a more desirable place],” or to conduct a terrorist attack within the United States, according to court documents.
Authorities said Azizi-Yarand even spent time at the Stonebriar mall planning how he would carry out the alleged plot. A court affidavit details the teen’s alleged communication with an FBI source, in which he’s accused of describing how he would kill a responding police officer.
This is not the first time the Islamic State has targeted the Metroplex for a terrorist attack:
By my count, Islamic State-pledged terrorists are 0-3 attacking the Metroplex.
But it brings up the question: Why have all the Texas Islamic State jihadi attempts targeted the Metroplex rather than, say, Houston, San Antonio or Austin? (There was Ft. Hood jihadi shooter Nidal Hasan, but he predated the rise of the Islamic State. And there was the wanna be Houston jihadi, but I don’t think he even got to the planning stages.)
Tags: Crime, Frisco, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Jihad, Matin Azizi-Yarand, Metroplex, Plano, terrorism