12 Years After Being Indicted on Sex Travel Charges, Philadelphia Man Apprehended in Egypt and Returned to the United States

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced that Idris Abdullah Malik, 49, was apprehended in Egypt and returned to the United States to face four counts of traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct and one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.

The indictment, filed on March 1, 2012, alleges that between 2000 and 2005, Malik traveled to Egypt on four occasions for the purposes of engaging in an illicit sexual act with a minor less than 12 years old and between 2005 and 2006, engaged in a sexual act with a minor less than 16 years old in Egypt.

After being charged, Malik’s whereabouts were unknown and a bench warrant was issued. He was recently located in Egypt and returned to the United States with the assistance of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, FBI Legat’s Office in Cairo, U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Consular Section at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the FBI. The support and assistance of Egyptian security authorities was consequential to this effort.

On June 13, 2024, Malik was taken into custody by the FBI and made his initial appearance in the Eastern District of Virginia. He has now been returned to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for prosecution and appeared in federal magistrate court in Philadelphia this afternoon, where he was arraigned and ordered detained until trial by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jose R. Arteaga.

If convicted of the charged offenses, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 150 years’ imprisonment.

The case was jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Josh A. Davison.

An indictment, information or criminal complaint is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.