Judge sentences Durham man who was arrested at RDU in 2024 on way to join ISIS
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- Alexander Justin White was arrested Dec. 4, 2024, at RDU while boarding a flight to Paris.
- White pleaded guilty to providing material support to ISIS.
- Judge Richard E. Myers II sentenced White to eight years in federal prison.
A year and a half after federal agents arrested a Durham man at Raleigh-Durham International Airport on his way to join ISIS, a judge handed down his sentence earlier this month.
Alexander Justin White, 30, was arrested Dec. 4, 2024, as he tried to board a flight to Paris, the first part of a trip to Morocco to join the terrorist group, The News & Observer previously reported.
White pleaded guilty two months later to a charge of providing material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, court records show.
White, who also went by Sulaiman Al-Amriki, apparently began publicly supporting ISIS around May 2024, when he made online posts supporting the group and trying to recruit new members, according to court documents. He also messaged with undercover agents, at one point saying he wouldn’t mind killing American citizens or soldiers, federal officials said.
White had some experience with firearms and had trained at a gun range in preparation to fight with ISIS members abroad, The N&O previously reported. Court documents show law enforcement seized an American Tactical M1911 handgun with three empty magazines from his University Drive apartment. He also had $6,970 in U.S. currency on him.
White had also purchased a tactical medical kit and military-style boots, which he wore in North Carolina to break them in before his planned trip, officials said. He’d disguised the trip as a vacation.
Officials didn’t publicize White’s arrest until more than a month later as they investigated whether he had any co-conspirators. They found he’d worked alone, The N&O previously reported.
It’s not clear what sparked White’s support for ISIS. The majority of court documents in his case remained sealed as of Monday morning, and court records show no previous criminal history in North Carolina.
Chief U.S. District Court Judge Richard E. Myers II sentenced White to eight years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release. He must receive mental and physical health assessments and treatment and the “most intensive” substance abuse treatment available, according to Myers’ sentence.
White will serve his time at FCI Butner, a medium-security federal prison near Durham, so he can be close to family and his imam in Burlington, Myers wrote.
“The United States does not tolerate terrorism in any form,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Ellis Boyle in a news release. “Whether keyboard warriors or wannabe fighters, the Department of Justice and FBI will relentlessly bring them to justice.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 11:02 AM.
