U.S. expenses Tajik man dwelling in New York with conspiring to assist ISIS

Washington — A Tajik man dwelling in New York was arrested and charged with conspiring to offer materials help to the ISIS and ISIS-Okay terrorist teams, in keeping with courtroom paperwork unsealed Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Mansuri Manuchekhri, a Tajik nationwide who was illegally dwelling in Brooklyn, facilitated the switch of over $70,000 to ISIS-affiliated people in Turkey and Syria between December 2021 and June 2023, together with to 1 one who was arrested in Turkey for attacking a church in Istanbul in 2024. ISIS-Okay, or ISIS-Khorasan, is among the terrorist group’s most harmful branches and publicly claimed duty for the assault. 

Manuchekhri was taken into custody after an in depth member of the family reported him to a New York terrorism tip line, warning of potential violence and saying that he had threatened to kill the member of the family, in keeping with an affidavit filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the Jap District of New York.

Prosecutors alleged that Manuchekhri mentioned the funds at size with somebody affiliated with ISIS in Turkey, who advised him that the cash would go to present ISIS troopers and members of the family of lifeless ISIS fighters. In addition they alleged that Manuchekhri publicly expressed his help of previous ISIS assaults on the U.S. and had a number of ISIS propaganda movies on his iCloud account.

Manuchekhri would usually prepare utilizing firearms, prosecutors mentioned, and in two situations despatched movies of himself capturing weapons to an ISIS contact in Turkey. He allegedly mentioned that he trains with weapons “at the least a few times every week,” and wrote in one other message, “Thank God, I’m prepared, brother.”

He was additionally charged with unlawful possession of firearms, together with an AK-47 and a tactical rifle, and immigration fraud. An lawyer for Manuchekhri didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The affidavit included images allegedly taken from Manuchekhri’s iCloud account displaying him posed with varied firearms at capturing ranges:

Prosecutors mentioned that Manuchekhri entered the U.S. on a vacationer visa in 2016 and stayed within the nation illegally after it expired. In March 2017, he paid an American citizen to enter right into a sham marriage with him so he may get hold of authorized standing in america, in keeping with the affidavit.

When immigration authorities requested for extra documentation in regards to the marriage, Manuchekhri filed for divorce and claimed he was a sufferer of home violence, hoping that might assist him change into a lawful everlasting resident via different authorized means, the federal government mentioned.

Each of Manuchekhri’s immigration petitions had been fraudulent, prosecutors alleged, including that they’ve proof he by no means lived along with his spouse and that utility payments submitted as proof that the pair lived collectively had been faux. 

Manuchekhri appeared earlier than a federal choose on Wednesday and was ordered to be detained as proceedings play out, a spokesperson for the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Jap District of New York advised CBS Information.

The arrest follows a spate of terrorism warnings from the U.S. authorities, with nationwide safety officers pointing to a system that is blinking purple within the aftermath of the Oct. 7 assaults by Hamas on Israel and the emergence of terrorism scorching spots in Central Asia.

An ongoing FBI investigation into the New Yr’s Day truck assault on New Orleans’ Bourbon Road discovered the attacker posted movies declaring his help for ISIS shortly earlier than the lethal rampage. The attacker killed 14 individuals and injured dozens extra when he rammed a pickup truck down the favored vacationer spot.

Following the assault, the FBI, Division of Homeland Safety and Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle circulated a legislation enforcement bulletin warning of the specter of violence from lone offenders: “Official ISIS messaging within the group’s flagship merchandise from 2014 and 2016 known as for attackers so use automobiles as weapons along with edged weapons and firearms, and pro-ISIS media shops and the group’s on-line supporters often recirculate or re-purpose these produces in a wide range of boards.” 

Final October, the FBI arrested Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi for allegedly planning an Election Day terrorist assault in Oklahoma Metropolis. Federal prosecutors mentioned the Afghan nationwide took steps to hold out an assault within the U.S., together with by attempting to promote his household dwelling, relocate household overseas and stockpile firearms and ammunition.

Final June, federal brokers apprehended eight males from Tajikistan on immigration expenses amid concern the boys — who entered by way of the Southwest border and lived in Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia — had been within the early phases of plotting a potential terrorist assault on U.S. soil, in keeping with a number of U.S. officers.

In February 2023, Naser Almadaoji, an Iraqi-born U.S. citizen, was sentenced to 10 years in jail after pleading responsible to offering materials help to overseas terrorist organizations, specifically ISIS and ISIS-Okay.