Three men were arrested on Wednesday on charges of plotting to help the Islamic State (IS) group wage war against the US, and federal officials said one of them spoke of shooting US President Barack Obama or planting a bomb on Coney Island.
Akhror Saidakhmetov was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where officials said he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul on his way to Syria. Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev had a ticket to travel to Istanbul next month and was arrested in Brooklyn, federal prosecutors said. The two were held without bail after a brief court appearance.
A third defendant, Abror Habibov, is accused of helping fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts to join the Islamic State group after Saidakhmetov’s mother took away his passport to try to prevent him from traveling. Habibov was ordered held without bail in Florida.
Image: Reuters
The three, who are from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are charged with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization. If convicted, each could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.
“This is real,” New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton said. “This is the concern about the lone wolf, inspired to act without ever going to the Mideast.”
The US Department of Justice has charged about 20 people in the past year with planning to travel to the Middle East to fight alongside militants like the Islamic State group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq. Federal officials have been concerned about US residents going overseas to train with such groups and returning with plots to carry out attacks at home.
Saidakhmetov is a Brooklyn resident and citizen of Kazakhstan. Juraboev is a Brooklyn resident from Uzbekistan. Habibov is also from Uzbekistan and had been in the US legally, but his visa had expired. He was appointed a public defender on Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors say Juraboev, 24, first came to the attention of law enforcement in August last year, when he posted on an Uzbek-language Web site that propagates Islamic State ideology.
“Greetings! We too want to pledge our allegiance and commit ourselves while not present there,” he wrote, according to federal authorities. “Is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here? … What I’m saying is, to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels.”
Officials said they believed he planned to travel from Turkey to Syria to join the extremist group. Prosecutors say Saidakhmetov, 19, also threatened an attack in the US if he was unable to join the group. Juraboev’s plans included attacks against Obama or planting a bomb on Coney Island, officials said.
US officials say Juraboev identified Saidakhmetov as a friend with a shared ideology. The two exchanged messages on how to get overseas, and Saidakhmetov and an informant watched videos of extremist training camps in Syria, court papers said.
Saidakhmetov told the informant in September last year that he wanted to travel to Syria for jihad, but that his concerned mother confiscated his passport, the complaint said.
He said he would lie and tell her he planned to go to Uzbekistan to visit relatives. When he called to ask for his passport back, she hung up the telephone, it added.
“The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies,” state US Attorney Loretta Lynch said.
Saidakhmetov’s attorney Adam Perlmutter said his client was a “young, innocent kid” who would plead not guilty.
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