Former Mayo researcher pleads guilty after attempting to join ISIS

(FOX 9) - A licensed doctor from Pakistan who previously worked as a researcher at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, has pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material to support the terrorist group ISIS.

Announced by U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger on Friday, Muhammad Masood, 30, was under an H-1B Visa, when between January 2020 and March 2020, he made several statements to others, including pledging his allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham ("ISIS") and its leader – expressing his desire to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS.

In 2020, Masood was arrested at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He then made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis.

According to court filings at the time, between January and March Masood made comments pledging his allegiance to ISIS and its leader, and expressing his desire to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS. He also expressed that he wanted to complete "lone wolf" terrorist attacks in the U.S.

On February 2020, Masood bought a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria. Those plans, however, changed when Jordan closed its borders due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Masood then planned to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in order to meet with a person he believed would help him with travel by cargo ship to get to ISIS territory.

In March 2020, Masood traveled from Rochester to Minneapolis to board a flight bound for Los Angeles. After he checked into his flight at MSP, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested him. 
The case was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

An official with Mayo Clinic confirmed Masood had previously worked for Mayo Clinic, but was not employed there at the time of his arrest. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota, he worked at the clinic as a research coordinator.