3 US Men Sought to Join ISIL

Local Editor

The FBI had arrested three foreign nationals living in Brooklyn who agents declared sought to join the "ISIL".

According to the FBI, two of the men had threatened to kill police officers and FBI agents in the US if they were unable to travel to Syria.

The men came to the authorities' attention after they posted in Uzbek-language websites in recent months plans to assassinate US President Barack Obama.

Abdurasul Juraboev, 24, and Abror Habibov, 30, both of Uzbekistan; and Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, of Kazakhstan, were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation.

Saidakhmetov was arrested at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, as he tried to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey.

Moreover, federal prosecutors said that Juraboev bought a plane ticket to travel from New York to Istanbul next month.

The third suspect, Habibov, was accused of helping to fund Saidakhmeto's efforts to join the Syrian extremists.

"This is real," William Bratton, commissioner of the New York Police Department declared. "This is the concern about the lone wolf, inspired to act without ever going to the Mideast."

The US had charged about 20 people with planning to join militant groups overseas, many intending to go to Syria to fight with ISIL.

FBI declared Saidakhmetov had worked for Habibov, who operated mobile-phone repair stands in malls in several cities.

"I am in USA now but we don't have any arms. But is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated "martyrs" anyway while here?" Juraboev wrote on the Uzbek-language website, according to the court papers.

"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."

Saidakhmetov told an FBI informant that he planned to go Syria but he would still carry out attacks if he was unable to go.

"We will go and purchase one handgun ... then go and shoot one police officer. Boom ... Then we will go the FBI headquarters, kill the FBI People," Saidakhmetov told the informant.

If convicted, each defendant faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
"The defendants violated the true tenets of their faith in pursuit of their radical, violent agenda," said Diego G Rodriguez of the FBI's New York Field Office.

Figures suggest more than 20,000 foreigners had joined the conflicts in Iraq and Syria in the last three years, with as many as 4,000 from Western Europe.

This week, UK police said three missing London teenagers flew to Turkey to join ISIL militants. It was believed that they had now crossed into Syria.

"The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies," US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, announcing the arrests.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team