An Ocean County man was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison on Monday for planning on aiding and training al-Qaida fighters.
Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen spoke with an undercover FBI agent and claimed that he would be willing to fly to Pakistan to help train fighters and help wage jihad, The Associated Press reports. The 25-year-old pleaded guilty with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization.
He admitted to meeting with the FBI agent between August and October 2013 and believed he was meeting with an al-Qaida recruiter.
"I simply do not understand how we can rehabilitate his commitment to die for his beliefs," said U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter. Nguyen faced a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Nguyen was picked up by authorities as he tried to take a bus to Mexico. In his possession he had a computer hard drive containing more than 180 weapons training videos.
He thought he was going to train 30 fighters and that after a previous trip to Syria he said wanted to "return to jihad, stating that this was what he was born to do," court documents say.