NEW YORK – A terror suspect is set to face charges he helped raise $1,600 in a plot to have U.S. residents travel overseas to fight for the Islamic State.
Dilkhayot Kasimov's arraignment on charges of conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors have accused Kasimov of working closely with another man, Abror Habibov, to raise $1,600 for a third, Akhror Saidakhmetov, to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group. Saidakhmetov was carrying the cash when he was intercepted at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 25 trying to board a flight to Turkey, court papers say.
After being detained on immigration charges, Kasimov, 26, admitted he delivered the money to the 19-year-old Saidakhmetov and knew that the teen "might be" traveling to Syria, court papers say. Agents also uncovered "electronic communications in which Kasimov encouraged others to participate in violent jihad," they said.
Last month, Saidakhmetov, Habibov and Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev — all immigrants from the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan — pleaded not guilty in the same case. Prosecutors accused Juraboev of also trying to travel to Syria via Turkey to join the Islamic State.
The name of Kosimov's lawyer wasn't available.
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