FBI Unsure of Former Stoughton HS Grad Turned Terrorism Suspect's Location

By Daniel Libon (Patch Staff)

A former Mansfield resident that grew up in Stoughton might be helping Muslim terrorist organization ISIS overseas but the FBI is unsure where he is or what he is doing.

WCVB reports that Ahmad Abousamra, who is on the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list, is believed to be in Syria and could be using computer skills he learned in Massachusetts to help ISIS.

“They don’t have a warrant; they don’t have a right to do that,” Abousamra said on a wiretap recorded by the FBI.

Abousamra fled the county in 2006 and was indicted three years later in a Boston federal court. for allegedly attempting to obtain military training during trips to Pakistan and Yemen.

“Here is a guy that went to terrorist training camps, that expressed his desire to go and fight in Iraq against US troops. That’s somebody that needs to face justice,” Vincent Lisi, the special-agent-in-charge of the Boston office of the FBI told the news station.

Lisi added that the FBI does not have any evidence that Abousamra is apart of the ISIS social media campaign.

“We have no idea,” he told WCVB. “We don’t know where he is or what he is doing.”

Born in France, Abousamra was raised in Stoughton and Plainville. He attended Xaverian High School for three years but left the school in part because of the school’s ban on facial hair and his desire to grow a beard for religious regions.

He would graduate from Stoughton High School and studied computer science at Northeastern University and UMass Boston where he earned his undergraduate degree.

At the time he left the country, Abousamra was living in Mansfield.

Abousamra is of Syrian descent and has dual U.S. and Syrian citizenship. He is 33 years old, 5’11” tall, and at the time of his disappearance weighed about 170 pounds. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes. He is fluent in English and Arabic and was previously employed at a telecommunications company.

The FBI is offering a reward of $50,000 for information leading to his capture.