Three New Yorkers allegedly planning to join Islamic State arrested in terror plot
A 19-year-old Kazakh who discussed staging attacks on FBI agents and US police arrested trying to board a flight to Turkey while 24-year-old Uzbek offered to kill the American president, according to criminal complaint
Two police officers guard an entrance of the Federal Courthouse in New York's borough of Brooklyn Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images
By Philip Sherwell, New York
8:41PM GMT 25 Feb 2015
Three New York men who were allegedly plotting to join Islamic State in Syria and discussed plans to conduct attacks in the US have been arrested on terror charges.
One man was detained at the city’s John F Kennedy airport as he tried to board a flight to Turkey, while an alleged fellow plotter had bought airline tickets to travel to Istanbul.
Two of the men, aged 24 and 30, are Uzbeki while the other, aged 19, is Kazakh. All were legal residents of the US living in Brooklyn.
The arrests came just hours before James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, disclosed that there are now “home-grown violent extremism allegations” in all 50 US states.
The three men, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, Akhror Saidakhmetov, and Abror Habibov, have been charged with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
The arrests focused fears about the flow of extremist recruits from the US to join the ranks of Isil in Syria and the danger of attacks by the group’s supporters on American soil.
Jeh Johnson, the US homeland security secretary, said at the weekend that a call from Somali-based al-Shabaab for local-based militants to attack prominent shopping districts, such as the giant Mall of America in Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, represented a new evolution in terror.
Mr Juraboev came to the attention of law enforcement last August after a posting on an Uzbek-language website that promotes Isil ideology in which he allegedly offered to kill the US president if ordered to do so, according to the criminal complaint.
The investigation revealed that Mr Juraboev, 24, an Uzbek, and Mr Saidakhmetov, 19, a Kazakh, allegedly devised a plan to travel to Turkey and then to Syria to wage jihad on behalf of Isil. Mr Saidakhmetov expressed his intent to buy a machine gun and shoot police officers and FBI agents if thwarted in his plan to join Isil in Syria, the complaint stated.
Mr Saidakhmetov was arrested early Wednesday morning at Kennedy Airport, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul. Mr Juraboev had previously purchased a plane ticket to travel from New York to Istanbul and was scheduled to leave the United States next month, while Mr Habibov, also a citizen of Uzbekistan, helped fund Mr Saidakhmetov’s efforts to join Isil, according to the charges.
“As alleged, the defendants looked to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by flying to Turkey in a vain attempt to evade detection.” said Diego Rodriguez, the FBI’s New York assistant director. “And one of the defendants was prepared to commit acts of terror here — in America — if he could not travel, to include killing FBI agents. The defendants violated the true tenants of their faith in pursuit of their radical, violent agenda.”
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The defendants, who were expected to appear in court later, have not entered pleas.
