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Federal prosecutors in Connecticut said they arrested Ahmad
Khalil Elshazly, 22, on Sunday on charges of attempting to
provide material support to Islamic State, which U.S.
authorities have designated a foreign terrorist organization. He
faces up to 20 years in prison.
A federal judge on Monday ordered Elshazly be held without bail.
In court filings, federal agents say Elshazly told others
starting in September 2018 that he wanted to travel to Syria or
nearby to fight with Islamic State. In the presence of
government informants, he pledged loyalty to Islamic State and
said he wished the United States would "burn in fire."
However, he said he was having trouble finding a way to reach IS
territory. Elshazly decided against traveling by airplane last
week, according to a government informant, because he was
worried he would be stopped at the airport.
On Saturday, he handed another government informant $500 to pay
for transport on a fishing boat that would take him to a
container ship headed for Turkey.
He was arrested at a marina in Stonington, Connecticut as he
approached a person he thought was the captain of a fishing
boat, according to court documents.
As of November, 200 individuals had been charged in the United
States on offenses related to Islamic State and 147 had pleaded
or been found guilty, according to George Washington
University's Program on Extremism.
Military operations by Turkey, Syria and Kurdish fighters have
largely eliminated territorial holdings that Islamic State once
ruled in the Middle East.
But European and U.S. counter-terrorism officials fear recruits
who return to Europe and would-be fighters like Elshazly who
surf jihadist websites still pose a potentially significant
threat of violence.
(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Dan
Grebler)
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