The U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday that one of the alleged leaders in the 2012 deadly Benghazi, Libya attack that killed four Americans is in U.S. custody.
Zubayar Al-Bakoush was met by FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia, who will be the lead prosecutor in the case against him, when he landed on U.S. soil in the early hours of Friday for a formal transfer of custody.
During a press conference, both Patel and Bondi said the efforts to track down Al-Bakoush were a multi-federal agency collaboration that never forgot the 2012 tragedy that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and U.S. government personnel Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
“We will prosecute this alleged terrorist to the fullest extent of the law,” Bondi said. “Let this case serve as a reminder: if you commit a crime against the American people, anywhere in this world, President Trump’s Justice Department will find you. It might not happen overnight, but it will happen. You can run, but you cannot hide.”
Al-Bakoush, who has been wanted by the U.S. for over a decade, allegedly co-conspired in the terrorist attack on the United States Mission and Annex in Benghazi. On Sept. 11, 2012, a group of more than 20 armed men rushed the compound, firing firearms and setting fires that lasted for hours before aid arrived.
The arrest of Al-Bakoush is a “relentless pursuit of mission that can only happen when you have an interagency who is willing to get after it,” Patel said, adding that law enforcement has been able to arrest America’s enemies because “President Trump backs the blue” and “has given law enforcement the resources we need to take the fight across the world.”
The DOJ’s press release states the following charges facing Al-Bakoush:
- Conspiracy to provide material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death.
- Providing material support and resources to terrorists resulting in death.
- Murder of an internationally protected person.
- Murder of a United States national outside of the United States (two counts).
- Attempted murder of a United States national outside of the United States.
- Arson and placing lives in jeopardy within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States and attempting to do the same.
- Maliciously destroying and injuring property and placing lives in jeopardy within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States and attempting to do the same.
According to an unsealed indictment, Al-Bakoush was accused of being a member of an Islamist extremist militia. The DOJ has previously charged and convicted two leaders of the Benghazi attack.
“The Benghazi saga was a painful one for Americans. It has stayed with all of us, and let me be very clear, there are more of them out there,” Pirro said during the press conference. “Time will not stop us from going after these predators, no matter how long it takes in order to fulfill our obligation to those families who suffered horrific pain at the hands of these violent terrorists.”