ISIS News Today 2015: Brooklyn Man Indicted for Attempting to Provide Financial Aid to ISIS
Another resident of Brooklyn, New York, has been indicted for attempting and conspiring to provide support to the Islamic State extremist group in Syria and Iraq.
A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted Dilkhayot Kasimov, 26, of the charges and he will be arraigned on April 8 before U.S. District Judge William Kuntz of the Eastern District of New York.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, Kasimov is the fourth Brooklyn resident to be charged with the crime since February.
Federal investigation started last year when Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, one of Kasimov's co-defendants, came to the attention of law enforcement after posting on an Uzbek-language website that propagates ISIS ideology.
It was revealed that Juraboev and co-defendant Akhror Saidakhmetov planned to go to Turkey and then to Syria to wage violent jihad on behalf of ISIS.
Saidakhmetov was arrested last Feb. 25 at the John F. Kennedy International Airport where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul.
Juraboev previously purchased a plane ticket to travel from New York to Istanbul and had been scheduled to leave the U.S. last month.
Kasimov worked closely with co-defendant Abror Habibov and funded Saidakhmetov's plan to join ISIS.
Kasimov and Habivov collected over $1,600 from individuals for Saidakhmetov's use in Syria.
Kasimov delivered the money to Saidakhmetov at Kennedy Airport before Saidakhmetov was arrested before he could board his flight in February.
Electronic messages showed that Kasimov allegedly encouraged others to join in violent jihad and made clear his role in facilitating the travel of foreign fighters to Syria.
"This defendant is the fourth Brooklyn resident charged as part of the same network of individuals who are alleged to have conspired and attempted to provide material support to ISIL," said U.S. Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch.
According to Assistant Director in Charge Diego Rodriguez of the F.B.I. New York office said Kasimov served as the ISIS money man in support of his co-defendants' plants to join the group.
If convicted, Kasimov faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, the justice department said.
