Arlington, Virginia — An American Airlines mechanic charged with sabotaging a plane is now accused of having ties to terrorists. According to prosecutors, Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani shared videos stored on his phone of ISIS murders.
Family of Alani were in court as a federal judge deemed him a danger and a flight risk, citing new evidence of potential terrorist sympathies in denying the 60-year-old mechanic bail.
On July 17th, Alani allegedly super glued styrofoam inside the nose of an American Airlines 737, interfering with the plane’s navigation system, prompting an alert stopping pilots from taking off. At the time, 150 people were on board but no one was hurt. Alani said he was upset about stalled contract talks which had affected him financially.
Alani is an Iraqi born naturalized U.S. citizen, who prosecutors now claim shared videos stored on his cell phone of ISIS murders, made statements wishing Allah would use “divine powers” to harm non-Muslims, had recently sent money to someone in Iraq and has a brother there, who may have ties to the Islamic State.
Alani’s lawyer said he didn’t intentionally put people in danger, because the plane had backup systems. Alani passed regular background checks. So far, he has not been charged with any terror-related offenses.
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