NEW YORK: Three New York City residents — two with Uzbekistan citizenship and one a citizen of Kazakhstan — plotted to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) militants and ‘wage jihad’, NBC news reported on Wednesday.

One of the defendants also offered to kill the president of the United States if ordered to do so, the criminal complaint in a US Federal Court alleged.

The men were identified in the complaint as Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev (24), a citizen of Uzbekistan; Akhror Saidakhmetov (19), a citizen of Kazakhstan; and Abror Habibov (30), a citizen of Uzbekistan. All of them are residents of Brooklyn, New York.

According to prosecutors, two of the men came to the attention of law enforcement last summer after they expressed online support for the IS and militant groups.

Saidakhmetov was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he tried to board a plane headed to Istanbul, authorities said. Juraboev had plane tickets for March 29 and Habibov helped fund Saidakhmetov’s trip, the complaint said.

The two had hopes of joining the IS and — if their travel plans were dashed — had intentions to commit terror in the US. Juraboev allegedly offered to kill the president if given the orders from IS. Saidakhmetov-- if prevented from joining the terror group-- wanted to purchase a machinegun and shoot at law enforcement officials, the complaint said.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2015

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