Bryant Neal Vinas

Bryant Neal Vinas (born December 4, 1982; also Ibrahim, Bashir al-Ameriki and Ben Yameen al-Kanadeeis) is an American convicted of participating in and supporting al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S.

His parents divorced in 2000.

Vinas graduated from Longwood High School in Middle Island, New York.

He joined the U.S. Army at age 18 in 2002, but was discharged after just three weeks of basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

After converting to Islam in 2004, he traveled to Waziristan, Pakistan, in 2007 with the intention of meeting and joining a jihadist group to fight U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

He was accepted into al-Qaeda and received training in general combat and military explosives.

He also volunteered detailed information about the operation of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) system to a senior al-Qaeda leader to help plan a bomb attack on an LIRR commuter train in New York's Penn Station.

He converted to Islam in 2004, and is a member of the Salafi methodology.

He attended the Islamic Association of Long Island, a local Selden, New York, mosque, most members of which are Pakistani.

He attended the mosque regularly from approximately 2004/05 until late 2007, and began going by the name "Ibrahim" there.

Mosque president Nayyar Imam said he talked regularly to FBI and Homeland Security officials and that he kept "an eye like a hawk on this place".

On the other hand, a former FBI counter-terrorism official said "there could be a person in the mosque who has some radical thoughts and ideas who the imam knows nothing about", and that suspected extremists had in fact been identified at the mosque.

Vinas began wearing Islamic robes and a skullcap, immersed himself in the Koran and studying Arabic, brought three Pakistani friends from the mosque to his father's home on one occasion, and encouraged his father to consider converting to Islam.

Law enforcement officials believe he was radicalized through the internet, as his confiscated computer revealed that while in the U.S. he had visited jihadist websites.

While first living with his mother in Medford, Vinas had a dispute with her and moved in with his father in Patchogue, New York, in approximately 2005.

He worked as a licensed truck driver and at a car wash, and sporadically attended technical college.

He also had contact with Rashid Rauf, a Pakistani/British member reportedly involved in the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot to bring down U.S. flights.

In September 2007, he quit his job and abruptly left his father's home, saying he wanted to study Islam and Arabic.

On September 10, 2007, Vinas traveled to Lahore, Pakistan intending to join a jihadist group which fought U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Three of his Pakistani friends in New York helped him plan his trip.

He also traveled to Peshwar, Pakistan, to have a doctor amputate the little toe of his right foot due to an unspecified ailment.

Later in 2007, he traveled to Waziristan, Pakistan.

He made contact with members of al-Qaeda from Yemen and Saudi Arabia and its leadership, and with "a good reference" was accepted into al-Qaeda.

Subsequently, he participated in two al-Qaeda rocket attacks on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in September 2008.

He was captured by Pakistani forces in 2008 and transferred to FBI custody.

He received "military type training" in the Waziristan's al-Qaeda camp between March and August 2008.

During intake, he filled out an information form, listed his relatives, handed his passport over, and adopted an alias.

His training included "courses" in general combat, firearms (the AK-47, machine gun, and pistol), rocket-propelled grenades, a 15-day course in military explosives theory and assembly (including TNT, C4, voltmeters, and suicide belts), and a course in assassination and silencers.

Ten to twenty other students were in his classes.

There were other classes offered in forgery, poison, and "advanced bombs".

The trainees' performance was evaluated in writing and the reports kept in their personnel file.

He lived in safe houses with trainees from Europe and Turkey, and learned Arabic, Dari, and Urdu.

He agreed to become a suicide bomber, but his handlers eventually decided that he needed more indoctrination and training.

Vinas took part with other masked fighters in an al-Qaeda propaganda video featuring Abu Yahya al-Libi, a leader and frequent spokesman.

In January 2009, he pleaded guilty to all three charges against him.

After cooperating with law enforcement and testifying in two European terrorism trials, Vinas was sentenced in May 2017 to three months in prison additionally to the time that he had already served.

He will remain under tight supervision for the rest of his life.

Vinas lived on Long Island, with his parents and his sister, Lina.

His parents had both immigrated to the U.S., his mother from Argentina and his father, now a retired engineer, from Peru.

A one-time Boy Scout who grew up in Medford, New York, Vinas was raised Catholic.