The US authorities have arrested three Central Asian men living in New York on charges of plotting terror attacks at the behest of ISIS that reportedly included a plan to assassinate President Barack Obama and American soldiers.
The authorities said two of the men had threatened to carry out attacks on targets in the United States, including attacking President Obama and planting a bomb in New York’s Coney Island, if they failed in their attempt to proceed overseas and join ISIS. Their threats of violence, however, were largely “aspirational” at this point, and there was no indication that the suspects were anywhere close to staging an attack, law enforcement officials said.
The suspects have been identified as Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, a citizen of Uzbekistan, Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, belonging to Kazakhstan, and Abror Habibov, 30, of Uzbekistan. They all have been charged with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.
Saidakhmetov was arrested on Wednesday morning at New York’s JFK Airport while he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. Habibov was arrested from Jacksonville in Florida. The third suspect, Juraboev, who had a flight scheduled from New York later on Wednesday, was picked up at his home in Brooklyn.
Two of the men, Juraboev and Saidakhmetov, had become permanent US residents, but retained citizenship of their native countries. The third, Habivov, had reportedly overstayed his visa. Each of the three men face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted. New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said that by pledging allegiance to ISIS, the men “conspired to fight for a designated foreign terrorist organization either in Syria, or even New York”.