Via the Hill, a New York pizza man is pleading guilty on charges that he recruited for the Islamic State:
The owner of a Rochester, N.Y., pizza parlor pleaded guilty on Thursday to trying to recruit people to join Islamic extremists in the Middle East.The man, 31-year-old Mufid Elfgeeh, used the Internet to find potential supporters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), send them propaganda and support their efforts to join the extremist group in Syria, officials alleged.
To spread his message, Elfgeeh used a combination of three Twitter accounts, 23 Facebook accounts and one WhatsApp account, which he used to seek out funding and support radical fighters, according to details in his plea agreement.
From late 2013 to early 2014, Elfgeeh began communicating with two people who appeared willing to travel to Syria and join the jihadist fight.
The publication added that Elfgeeh was arrested in 2014, and faces more than 22 years in jail for his terrorist recruiting activities. This incident hits on what FBI Director James Comey said yesterday about how ISIS has used social media extensively to revolutionize its terror capabilities.
The use of the WhatsApp chatting platform is one of the main methods ISIS uses to recruit and plan attacks. The messages are encrypted. The Paris terror attacks in November were planned WhatsApp and Telegram.
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