DENVER (Reuters) ? An accused member of an Islamic group that is suspected of plotting attacks in Germany, Turkey, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan has been arrested and charged with providing support to foreign terrorists.
Jamshid Muhtorov, 35, an Uzbekistani refugee who resides in suburban Denver, was taken into custody on Saturday at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago by FBI agents, federal authorities said on Monday.
A criminal complaint charging him with providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization was unsealed in Denver on Monday shortly after Muhtorov made his initial court appearance in Chicago.
Court documents filed in the case said Muhtorov was heading overseas to fight on behalf of the Islamic Jihad Union, a Pakistan-based extremist group that opposes secular rule in the U.S.-backed former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan and seeks to replace the current regime there with a government based on Islamic law.
The public defender assigned to Muhtorov at his court appearance could not immediately be reached for comment.
An FBI affidavit for Muhtorov's arrest said German authorities in 2007 disrupted an IJU plot and arrested three operatives of the group targeting unidentified facilities with explosives. It said Turkish authorities separately seized weapons and detained "extremists with ties to the IJU."
The court affidavit also said the organization claimed responsibility for attacks in 2008 that targeted coalition forces in Afghanistan, including a suicide attack against an unidentified U.S. military post.
In addition, the group conducted simultaneous suicide bombings in 2004 of U.S. and Israeli embassies, as well as of a Uzbekistani government office, all in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, FBI agent Donald Hale wrote in the FBI affidavit.
Federal prosecutors said Muhtorov's arrest, capping a "long-term investigation," highlights "the continued interest of extremists residing in the United States to join and support overseas terrorists."
If convicted of the charge against him, Muhtorov faces up to 15 years in prison.
The FBI began monitoring his telephone calls and email messages last March, including a conversation in July in which he told his daughter he would never see her again "but if she was a good Muslim girl he will see her in heaven," Hale's affidavit said.
(Editing by Steve Gorman and Paul Thomasch)
facebook news facebook news boardwalk empire torrey smith torrey smith packers bears boeing 787
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.