News / Military

US soldier pleads guilty to helping Daesh, to receive 25-year term

Thursday, 30 August 2018 10:09 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 30 August 2018 10:21 AM ]

This image by the US Attorney's office shows American soldier Ikaika Kang kissing a Daesh flag.

A soldier based in Hawaii has pleaded guilty to helping the Daesh terrorist group, admitting that he planned to join the terror outfit and attack a US base in Hawaii.

Sgt. 1st Class Ikaika Kang told a US magistrate judge on Wednesday he’s guilty of all four counts to four counts of attempting to provide material support to Daesh, including a drone that was meant to track US troops in Iraq and Syria.

“Your honor, I provided unclassified, classified documents to the Islamic State,” Kang said at the court, using another synonym for Daesh.

The data handed over to terrorists included voluminous, digital documents that included sensitive information including the US military’s weapons file, details about a sensitive mobile airspace management system, various military manuals and documents containing personal information about US service members, according to Assistant US Attorney Ken Sorenson.

Kang started to follow the terror outfit since at least early 2016, Sorenson said, noting that the FBI started its investigation in August the same year by gathering information from people he knew, worked with or lived with.

Sorenson said Kang was in the process of providing other kinds of support to Daesh but didn’t realize that people he was dealing with this time were undercover agents.

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The 35-year-old soldier, trained as an air traffic controller, had a secret security clearance. He also provided Daesh with such information as US military call signs, mission procedures and radio frequencies, Sorenson said.

Kang was also an Army combat instructor and recorded training videos for Daesh.

He told an informant that if one day he joins the group, he would become a suicide bomber and attack Schofield Barracks, a major US Army base outside Honolulu.

Kang even expressed willingness to join Daesh in one of his meetings with the undercover agents.

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According to Sorenson, the soldier swore allegiance to the group in Arabic and English and kissed a Daesh flag given to him by a purported Daesh member.

Kang even told the agents that he wanted a rifle so he could “just go to downtown Honolulu and Waikiki strip and start shooting,” prosecutors said in a news release announcing the plea. That’s when the FBI took the soldier into custody.

In exchange for Kang’s guilty plea, prosecutors said they won’t charge him with additional crimes, including violations of the espionage act, other terrorism-related laws and federal firearms statutes.

Kang is expected to receive 25 years in prison as part of a plea agreement when he is sentenced on December 10.

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