Three Men Arrested In US For Planning To Join ISIS And To Assassinate Obama

The U.S. Department of Justice said three New York men have been arrested for allegedly planning to join the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria. It said on Thursday in New York that the suspects are Kazakh national Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, and Uzbeki nationals Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, and Abror Habibov, 30. It said they also talked about killing President Barack Obama and setting off a bomb in New York City. Officials said the arrests signaled the ever-growing threat by IS supporters in the U.S. and confirmed they were among the first major arrests aimed at stemming the flow of fighters to Syria. U.S. authorities said they have been monitoring the three men from Brooklyn since August 2014. They had allegedly posted online messages supporting the violent ideology of the IS and plotting to support violent acts abroad and in the U.S. In the charges filed against them, the prosecutor said Juraboev and Saidakhmetov had planned to travel to Syria via Turkey to the join IS. He said Juraboev was also accused of being prepared to follow orders from the extremist group to commit terrorist acts in the U.S. and offered to kill President Barack Obama. The prosecutor alleged that Saidakhmetov said he wanted to buy a machinegun and shoot U.S police officers and FBI agents if they wanted to stop him from joining the IS. He said Saidakhmetov was arrested at the John F Kennedy International Airport as he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Juraboev had bought to plane ticket to Istanbul for next month. He said Habibov, who was arrested in Florida, was accused of helping Juraboev finance his trip. The prosecutor said if convicted, each man faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, said government would vigorously prosecute those who attempt to travel to Syria to wage violent jihad on behalf of IS. She also warned that those who support them would also face the wrath of the law. William Bratton, New York City Police Commissioner, said at a news conference that the arrests signaled how fast the IS had become a major terrorist threat in the U.S. “The emergence of the Islamic State has become quickly apparent and it is now a new significant addition to the terrorism threat,” he said. Bratton said that when he took office in early 2014, al-Qaeda was the main terrorist threat. He said IS uses its “social media propaganda skills” to inspire people in the U.S. to travel to the Middle East and urge people to carry out attacks wherever they live. The commissioner condemned the budget standoff in Congress where Republicans are threatening to block funding to the Department of Homeland Security. “This is not the time to engage in activities that threaten our counter-terrorism work,” he said.