SANTA ANA (AP) — Court documents indicate a Southern California man charged with attempting to join al-Qaida and lying on a U.S. passport application to aid international terrorism was planning to travel to Pakistan before he was arrested.
A federal court order to detain 24-year-old Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen of Garden Grove says arresting agents stated he was due to travel to Mexico City by bus and then board a flight to Pakistan.
The order states Nguyen was holding a fake passport and had recently traveled to Lebanon and Syria to help the Free Syrian Army.
Nguyen was arrested last week in Santa Ana while waiting to board a bus to Mexico. He has pleaded not guilty.
Federal officials say Nguyen is a U.S. citizen and is also known as Hasan Abu Omar Ghannoum.
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