[EDNC] A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina charged seven individuals with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad. One of the defendants, Daniel Boyd, is a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The indictment alleges that in June 2007 Boyd and several other defendants traveled from the United States to Israel in an effort to engage in violent jihad but returned to the U.S. after failing in their efforts. A superseding indictment added new charges against the the terrorism suspects, including weapons charges and conspiracy to murder U.S. military personnel. Boyd pleaded guilty to the charges in February 2011. Boyd received a prison sentence of 18 years in August 2012

Sherifi, a member of the terrorist cell led by Boyd, was sentenced in January 2012 to 45 years in prison. In June 2012, Anes Subasic,a nother defendant, was found guilty of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and plotting to wage jihadi attacks overseas. Subasic was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Court records in a separate but related case accuse Hysen Sherifi of plotting to murder and behead witnesses who testified against him at his federal trial. Sherifi was convicted in November 2012 on all counts in the murder-for-hire scheme.