A former Baltimore cab driver today pleaded guilty in New York to conspiring to help the armed wing of a Pakistan-based religious organization labeled as a terrorist group by the U.S. government. Mahmud Faruq Brent, also known as Mahmud Al Mutazzim, is alleged to have attended an overseas terrorist camp and taken martial arts training in trying to assist Lashkar-e-Taiba. Imprisoned since his arrest in Newark, N.J., in August 2005, Brent, who is in his early 30s, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Douglas F. Eaton. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 10, 2007, by U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska. Prosecutors said Brent faces a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars. Brent had lived in West Baltimore in a three-story, multifamily house in the 5300 block of Gwynn Oak Ave.
The original 13-page criminal complaint alleged that Brent was involved with Lashkar-e-Taiba from 2001 until May of this year. Part of his support included attending a training camp run by Lashkar during a visit to Pakistan in 2002, agents said in court papers. In addition to allegations of a visit to a terrorist camp, federal authorities allege that Brent received martial arts training in Dutchess County in upstate New York from Tarik Shah, a Bronx jazz musician who is under indictment in the Southern District of New York on similar charges.