Suspected jihadist caught with arsenal outside NYC airport indicted as laundry list of weapons revealed
A suspected Jihadist from Queens who was caught near LaGuardia Airport armed to the teeth has been indicted on over a dozen weapons charges, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Judd Sanson, 27, was pulled over just blocks away from the airport on June 12 for allegedly driving with his license plate covered. Inside the vehicle officers discovered a frightening cache of weapons and body armor, according to police.
Prosecutors on Tuesday revealed the laundry list of weapons they found in his car, including guns, knives, axes and a black baton with the words “Left Me No Choice,” “You Gon Learn Today” and an Arabic expression that means, “Ask In God For Forgiveness.”
A body armor vest with an NYPD patch was also recovered in the vehicle.
“The borough of Queens has two major airports and must always be kept safe,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. “When a person is pulled over and police recover a baton with inciteful language written on it, a loaded weapon, ammunition and NYPD paraphernalia, we are very concerned.”
Police stopped Sanson on 86th Street and 23rd Avenue in East Elmhurst around 1:30 a.m. after spotting black film covering the rear license plate of his 2013 Ford Explorer.
As cops approached the vehicle, they saw Sanson armed with a knife in a holster strapped to his right pant leg, prosecutors said. An officer asked him to remove the knife and place it in the car’s center console and he complied.
Police recovered a loaded Glock semi-automatic 9 mm pistol under the driver’s seat as well as nine loaded magazines and 127 rounds of 9 mm ammunition from inside a bag on the rear passenger seat.
They additionally found black baton with a silver blade taped to the end hanging from the ceiling of the car, a whip, handcuffs, another baton with the writing on it, a stun gun, a machete, a switchblade, a butterfly knife, a hatchet, a Guy Fawkes mask and the NYPD body armor vest.
Prosecutors said at his arraignment investigators also discovered a “disturbing photo” on Sanson’s Facebook page, but did not elaborate.
“It is concerning that he was a few blocks way from the airport,” Katz said after the arraignment last month. “You got to ask about the intent.”
He’s charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree; 10 counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; unlawful possession of pistol ammunition; unlawful use of police uniform or emblem; and two counts of operating, driving or parking a motor vehicle without proper license plates.
Sanson faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
He is scheduled to be back in court on July 22.
