4th man charged in NYC over Islamic State recruitment plot

New York, Apr 7: A fourth man has been charged in a terrorism case, accusing him of raising money for a plot to have US residents travel overseas to fight for the Islamic State group. Dilkhayot Kasimov was named with three other previously charged defendants in a revised indictment unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn yesterday.

He faces charges of conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organisation. Prosecutors accused Kasimov of working closely with another man, Abror Habibov, to raise USD 1,600 for a third, Akhror Saidakhmetov, to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Saidakhmetov was carrying the cash when he was intercepted at John F Kennedy International Airport on February 25 trying to board a flight to Turkey, court papers say. After being detained on immigration charges, Kasimov 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. Kasimov "served as a money man in support of a co-defendant's efforts to join ISIL," Diego Rodriguez, head of New York's FBI office, said in a statement.

There was no immediate response to inquiries yesterday with the US Attorney's office in Brooklyn about when Kasimov would appear in court or if he had a lawyer. 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 group. Juraboev first came to the attention of law enforcement during the summer of 2014 after he made a posting on an Uzbek-language website that backs the Islamic State, court papers say.

"In his post, Juraboev offered to engage in an act of martyrdom on US soil on behalf of ISIL, such as killing the President of the United States," the papers say. Defense attorneys for the three men originally charged in the case have denied the allegations.

AP