By Danny Fenster
ticklethewire.com
Barry Walter Bojul’s trip to Yemen has been detoured, possibly by as much as 20 years in a federal prison.
The 30-year-old Texan’s conviction in a Houston federal court on Monday was the culmination of an investigation that began in 2009 by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. He was convicted of providing support to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Bojul acted as his own attorney.
In 2009, law enforcement thwarted three attempts of Bujol’s to leave the US for the Middle East, fearful he was planning to commit a violent jihad. Concerned, FBI agents arranged for Bujol to meet a confidential informant, who posed as a recruiter for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Bujol later told the informant he wanted to fight with the mujahideen.
It was established at the trial that Bujol had been in contact with the late Yemeni-American al-Qaeda associate Anwar Al-Aulaqi. In response to Bujol’s questions of how to support jihad, Aulaqi sent a letter entitled “42 Ways of Supporting Jihad,” which advocated violence and killing.
The confidential informant contacted Bujol on May 30, 2010, with a previously agreed upon codeword signaling the beginning of Bujol’s travels to the Middle East to join AQAP. They drove to the Port of Houston together where Bujol thought he was boarding a ship as a stow-away bound for training in Algeria then fighting in Yemen.
“Minutes after stowing away in a room on board the ship, agents took him into custody without incident,” according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.
Bujol faces up to 15 years for attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization and another five years for identity theft charges related to a fake ID Bujol had made to gain access to the port. He also faces fines of up to $250,000.
He has been in federal custody since the May 30, 2010 arrest, where he will remain until sentencing.
