Fourth New York City man charged in plot to travel to Syria to aid Islamic State

A fourth New York City man was charged on Monday with taking part in a plot to try to provide support to Islamic State militants, prosecutors said.

Dilkhayot Kasimov, 26, a Brooklyn resident and citizen of Uzbekistan, was named in a revised indictment on Monday along with three other previously charged New York residents. He will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

The three other defendants - Akhror Saidakhmetov, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev and Abror Habibov - pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charges during a hearing in Brooklyn in March. Prosecutors said two of the men planned to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of the radical group.

The revised indictment charges that Kasimov, working closely with Habibov, helped fund Saidakhmetov's efforts to join ISIS, collecting $1,600 from multiple individuals.

Kasimov allegedly delivered the money to Saidakhmetov at John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly before Saidakhmetov's arrest while attempting to board a flight in February.

Kasimov was taken into custody in February on immigration charges and has been held at a detention center in New Jersey, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's website.

Prosecutors say that Kasimov in electronic messages encouraged others to participate in violent jihad, and made clear his role in facilitating the travel of foreign fighters to Syria.

"Money is the oxygen that fuels terrorism," said New York Police Department Commissioner William J. Bratton, in a joint statement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

"This investigation proves again that we will leave no stone unturned to disrupt the finance, support, or membership in terrorist organizations."

If convicted, Kasimov could face up to 30 years in prison. A lawyer for Kasimov could not be immediately identified.

 

 

REUTERS