A New Jersey teen, Santos Colon, has pleaded guilty to a
plot allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group to kill Pope Francis during
his 2015 visit to the US.
The US Justice Department on Monday said the 15 years old at
the time, sought to recruit a sniper to shoot the Pope as he celebrated Mass in
Philadelphia on September 27, 2015.
Colon also allegedly planned to set off explosives, Africa
Review reports on Tuesday.
But the teen unwittingly recruited an undercover FBI agent
for the job, and was arrested quietly 12 days before the event.
“Colon engaged someone he believed would be the sniper, but
in reality was an undercover FBI employee. Colon engaged in target
reconnaissance with an FBI confidential source and instructed the source to
purchase materials to make explosive devices,” the Justice Department said in a
statement.
Court documents said Colon sought to carry out the act in
support of the Islamic State group and that he had used the adopted name Ahmad
Shakoor.
In a plea bargain with prosecutors, Colon, now 17, agreed to
forgo trial and plead guilty as an adult to one charge of providing material
support to a terror group.
With the deal, prosecutors dropped three other charges filed
against him as a juvenile.
Court documents said the charges were in relation to the
Islamic State group, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist
organisation.
But there were no details on how Colon became interested in
the group and if or how he communicated with them.
Pope Francis celebrated Mass for tens of thousands of
followers in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the historic east coast
city to cap a week-long visit for the World Meeting of Families
Colon’s home is in Lindenwold, New Jersey, just southeast of
Philadelphia.
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