Remote Terrorist Training Compound Results in Boy’s Death

Fed­er­al pros­e­cu­tors secured con­vic­tions against five adults for oper­at­ing a remote ter­ror­ist train­ing com­pound in New Mex­i­co. There, the group held an abduct­ed boy from Geor­gia and planned attacks on US institutions.

A jury found Sir­aj Ibn Wah­haj and Lucas Mor­ton guilty of con­spir­ing to sup­port ter­ror­ism and plot­ting to kill gov­ern­ment employ­ees. Sir­a­j’s sis­ters, Hujrah and Sub­hanah Wah­haj, faced the addi­tion­al charges of con­spir­a­cy to kid­nap result­ing in death. Jany Lev­eille accept­ed a plea deal for sim­i­lar charges.

The case stemmed from Abdul Ghani’s 2017 abduc­tion by his father Sir­aj. Suf­fer­ing from seizures, the 3‑year-old required med­ica­tion. His moth­er report­ed him miss­ing in Geor­gia. Lat­er, his remains were dis­cov­ered at the New Mex­i­co site.

The remote com­pound con­tained firearms, tac­ti­cal gear, and 11 neglect­ed chil­dren. The group trained for vio­lence, believ­ing Abdul pos­sessed demons. They deprived him of med­ica­tion, sub­ject­ing him to dai­ly exor­cisms until his death.

Lev­eille con­vinced the oth­ers their mis­sion was to estab­lish a faith­ful com­mu­ni­ty to judge cor­rupt insti­tu­tions. They acquired assault weapons and hun­dreds of ammu­ni­tion rounds. Some chil­dren under­went weapons instruc­tion. The FBI called the prepa­ra­tion for “holy war” unacceptable.

The defen­dants claimed reli­gious per­se­cu­tion as Mus­lims. How­ev­er, pros­e­cu­tors showed the group con­spired to vio­lent­ly con­front those unbe­liev­ing their rad­i­cal views. Their actions shat­tered Abdul’s fam­i­ly and community.

All face life sen­tences except Lev­eille at 17 years. The case demon­strates that plot­ting ter­ror­ism on US soil and harm­ing chil­dren will face severe legal consequences.