Teen Arrested At Chicago Airport For Trying To Join Islamic State
A teen in Chicago, Illinois has been arrested after feds say he sought to join the Islamic State terror organization.
Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a 19-year-old who lived with his parents in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, was arrested Saturday at O'Hare International Airport while trying to board an Austrian Airlines flight to Turkey. From Istanbul, Khan was reportedly planning to sneak his way across the Syrian border and join the Islamic State militants.
While being questioned by the FBI at the airport, investigators searched Khan's home and found a three page letter, left in his bedroom and meant for his parents, that decried the United States' foreign policy in the Middle East.
"First and foremost, please make sure not to to tell the authorities," the teen wrote. "For if this were to happen it will jeopardize not only the safety of us but our family as well."
"We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day," Khan added.
Khan had reportedly been in contact with someone online who gave him a phone number of who to contact once he got to Istanbul. The person could reportedly put Khan in contact with the Islamic State.
The teen is being held for charges of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, and he could be imprisoned for up to 15 years and a $250,000 fine. The teen is being kept in custody while decisions for a trial are made.
According to the Chicago Tribune, "as Khan was being led from the courtroom by deputy marshals, his father put his arm around Khan's weeping mother and sought to calm her."
