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Metro policeman in U.S. capital charged with trying to assist IS

Xinhua, August 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

A veteran Washinton D.C. metro police officer was arrested on Wednesday and accused of trying to help Islamic State (IS) fighters, said metro spokesman Dan Stessel.

It was the first time that a U.S. police officer was charged with assisting the extreme terrorism group, according to local meida.

Nicholas Young, 36, was accused of purchasing technology-related items for IS operatives so they could communicate in secret, said an ABC news report, citing their anonymous source.

Instead of contacting with true IS members, Young was actually in touch with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington, which has been monitoring him since 2010. Young has worked for the Washington Area Metro Transit Police Department since 2003.

An indictment filed last week in Alexandria federal court said an FBI official convinced Young to send him codes for mobile messaging cards that Young believed would be used by IS fighters overseas to communicate, said the report, adding that there was no pending threat to the U.S. capital's transportation system.

More than 100 Americans have been charged with trying to join IS or are suspected of supporting the group in some other way in the past three years, said the report. Endit