Man Accused Of Helping US Residents Travel Overseas To Join ISIS To Face Charges In NYC Court

A man, charged with conspiring to support Islamic State group, is due in a federal court in the New York City on Wednesday. The suspect is accused of helping raise $1,600 in a plot to send U.S. residents abroad to fight for ISIS.

Dilkhayot Kasimov is being charged with conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and is scheduled to be presented before the federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Kasimov, 26, has been accused of working with another man, named Abror Habibov, to raise $1,600 for a third person, called Akhror Saidakhmetov, to travel to Syria to join the ISIS. Authorities recovered the cash from Kasimov when he was intercepted at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Feb. 25. He was trying to board a flight to Turkey, AP reported, citing court documents.

Following his detention on immigration charges, Kasimov admitted that he was going to deliver the money to the 19-year-old Saidakhmetov, who “might be” traveling to Syria. Both Saidakhmetov and Habibov are immigrants from the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Authorities also found “electronic communications in which Kasimov encouraged others to participate in violent jihad,” according to court documents.

Federal prosecutors had charged Kasimov with conspiring to support the ISIS on Monday.

Last week, a 30-year-old Philadelphia woman was charged by federal prosecutors with trying to travel overseas to fight for ISIS. Keonna Thomas, also known as Fatyat Al Khilafah, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of deliberately attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization.