North Carolina man accused of supporting ISIS, planned to travel to Morocco

A North Carolina man was arrested while trying to board a foreign plane to join the Islamic State group, according to a federal complaint unsealed Tuesday.

Alexander Justin White, a U.S. citizen from Durham, is charged by federal prosecutors with providing, attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. White’s arrest on December 4 followed a month-long investigation into numerous pro-IS messages that prosecutors say the 29-year-old sent to various Facebook users and an undercover FBI agent.

White, who for part of last year went by the social media name Sulaiman Al-Amriki – which means Sulaiman the American – posted pro-IS content on Facebook several times between June and October 2024, prosecutors said. Some content included propaganda videos of IS and other Islamic extremists.

Federal prosecutors say that during this period, White spoke to several social media users who claimed to be from the Middle East and North Africa about his support for the Islamic State. Court documents show he told several users he would like to go to Africa to also join Islamic State. Authorities said White also lamented in online conversations that he had missed opportunities to join the militant group during previous trips – such as a 2018 visit to Egypt.

Over several months, White had frequent conversations with an undercover FBI agent, including several mentions of wanting to join IS and a staged video call that White said was made with a spokesman for an IS commander, prosecutors say.

Officials said that during text conversations with the agent, White expressed his desire to become a mujahid, which means “holy warrior” in Arabic, and discussed raising funds for detained IS members and their family members.

After several months of discussing plans to travel abroad and join IS, White sent the agent a screenshot of an upcoming itinerary that showed a Dec. 4 flight from Raleigh-Durham International Airport to Rabat, Morocco, court records show.

To avoid arousing suspicion about the flight, White bought a round-trip ticket, prosecutors say.

White later arrived at RDU Airport on Dec. 4 with three bags, where he checked in for a connecting flight to Paris and then went through security, authorities said. A few hours later, he was arrested while trying to board a plane.

The federal public defender who was appointed to represent White declined to comment Wednesday on the ongoing case.