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A US Air National Guardsman has been arrested by FBI agents investigating the top-secret Pentagon files leak.
Jack Teixeira, 21, has been taken into custody after he was detained in Dighton, Massachusetts.
FBI agents have made an arrest as part of the probe into the leak of the Pentagon documentsCredit: Reuters
Jack Teixeira has been arrestedCredit: Social media
The documents suggested Putin is undergoing chemo
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Teixeira was arrested “without incident” and he will have an initial appearance in court.
“FBI agents converged Thursday at Teixeira’s Massachusetts home and heavily armed tactical agents took Teixeira, who was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, into custody outside the property, without incident,” Garland said.
He said he would be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information.
Teixeira oversaw an online group called Thug Shaker Central where approximately 30 people – mostly young men and teens – shared a love of guns, racist memes and games.
He is enlisted in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
His identity was revealed by The New York Times after the secret military files circulated online in one of the worst intelligence breaches in US history.
Teixeira’s mum Dawn confirmed to the New York Times her son was a member of the Air National Guard and said he had recently been working overnight shifts at a base on Cape Cod.
Speaking during a US defence news briefing on the leak, Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder referred all questions about the case to the Justice Department saying it would be “inappropriate for him to comment” on the criminal investigation.
But he said: “We have rules in place. Each of us signs a nondisclosure agreement. This is a criminal act, a willful violation of those.”
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