By Mustafa Caglayan,Michael Hernandez
NEW YORK
Three New York residents were arrested and charged Wednesday with providing material support to the terrorist group Daesh, law enforcement authorities said.
Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.
The men arrested have been identified as Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, and Abror Habibov, 30.
The FBI said at least two of the men were suspected of planning to travel to Turkey and then to Syria for the purpose of fighting on behalf of Daesh.
“The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement.
Saidakhmetov was arrested Wednesday morning at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, the FBI said.
According to a court complaint, Saidakhmetov was prepared to engage in attacks in the U.S. if he were unable to travel abroad to join Daesh, and Juraboev was prepared to do the same if ordered by the terror group.
Habibov helped fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts to join the terror group, the FBI said.
Juraboev had previously purchased a plane ticket to travel from New York to Istanbul and was scheduled to leave the U.S. in March, said the agency.
“ISIL calls on its followers to come fight for the terrorist organization in Syria,” New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said. “By pledging allegiance to ISIL, these defendants allegedly conspired to fight for a designated foreign terrorist organization, either in Syria or even New York.”
The trio came to the authorities' attention last August after Juraboev posted writings on an Uzbek-language website that propagates Daesh's ideology.
Juraboev allegedly posted on Hilofatnews.com that he would kill President Barack Obama if ordered to do so by Daesh in order to "strike fears in the hearts of infidels," according to the complaint.
"The defendants violated the true tenants of their faith in pursuit of their radical, violent agenda,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriguez said in a statement.
Habibov and Juraboev are citizens of Uzbekistan, and Saidakhmetov is a Kazakh national.
Habibov was arraigned Wednesday in Jacksonville, Florida, while Saidkakhmetov and Juraboev are scheduled to appear in a Brooklyn federal court later in the day.
If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Some estimates say 20,000 fighters from around the world have joined Daesh, with more than 3,000 from Western countries.
The group declared a cross-border Islamic caliphate in a territory straddling Iraq and Syria.
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