ISIS Loyalist From HoCo Arrested At BWI Airport: DOJ

Crime & Safety

ISIS Loyalist From HoCo Arrested At BWI Airport: DOJ A Hanover man planned to join the ISIS terrorist group in Africa, prosecutors said. The FBI arrested him at BWI Airport before his flight.

LINTHICUM, MD — A Howard County man planning to join the ISIS terrorist group was arrested Monday at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, prosecutors said.

The U.S. Department of Justice identified the suspect as 21-year-old Michael Sam Teekaye Jr. of Hanover and said he's been detained since his arrest.

FBI agents arrested Teekaye at BWI Airport after he checked in for his flight and proceeded through security, a press release said.

Authorities said Teekaye was charged by criminal complaint with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339B.

The U.S. attorney's office said Teekaye told the arresting agents: "I'll just get out in 20 years and do something here. Okay? Okay? You will never stop me. Jihad will never stop. . . . I'll be like 40 when I get out, then I'll just do it. I don't care. You will never stop me. Jihad will never stop. I'll come and I'll kill your soldiers. I'll kill you, and I'll kill . . . ."

Teekaye also kicked one of the agents while making those statements, the prosecution said.

The DOJ said Teekaye has autism, mild intellectual disability, obsessive-compulsive disorder, unspecified depressive disorder and early onset schizophrenia and had previously been hospitalized at a psychiatric institute.

The release said Teekaye had multiple conversations with an undercover officer between March and April 2023, telling the officer he wanted to travel to Africa to join and fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

Teekaye told the officer his "plan B" was to carry out an attack in the United States against people who support Israel, the U.S. Attorney said.

Prosecutors said Teekaye bought ammunition and range time at a shooting range in Severn on three occasions in May and June 2024, later telling the officer it was partly in order to "train."

The DOJ said Teekaye tried to buy a Kalashnikov K-9 9mm rifle in July 2024, but the purchase was denied because he was on probation in a state criminal case.

In conversations between August and October 2024, Teekaye told the undercover officer he was in contact with a Somali ISIS fighter regarding his plans to travel to Somalia to join the terrorist group, the release said.

The U.S. attorney said Teekaye worked with the ISIS fighter to organize travel from BWI Airport to London, then Istanbul, then Ethiopia, where he would've crossed the border into Somalia.

The prosecution said Teekaye on Oct. 10 sent the undercover officer a photo of himself wearing a black mask and holding a large machete, along with the caption "Abdullah the islamophobe slayer."

The DOJ said the undercover officer asked Teekaye on Oct. 11 if he was "sure" he wanted to join ISIS and Teekaye responded, "I am sure I did a lot of research and had to accept something's [sic] that they are the only group that has the most true and sincere intentions."