New York in shock after three men arrested in US for 'trying to join Isis terror group'

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Three New Yorkers have been arrested in the US after officials determined they were trying to join Isis.

On Wednesday, authorities said that Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, was arrested at Kennedy Airport, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul and that Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, who had a ticket to travel to Istanbul next month, was arrested in Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Abror Habibov, 30, who is accused of helping fund Mr Saidakhmetov's efforts, was arrested in Florida.

Reports said the men with plans to go to Turkey intended to travel from there to Isis-held territory in Syria. All three have been charged with providing material support for terrorism.

CNN said that the two had said if they were not able to join Isis they would carry out terror attacks in the US. One of the men is said to be from Kazakhstan while the other two are from Uzbekistan. All are legal residents of the US.

“The defendants looked to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, by flying to Turkey in a vain attempt to evade detection. And several of the defendants planned to commit acts of terror here—in America—if they could not travel, to include killing FBI agents," said FBI Assistant Director Diego Rodriguez.

He added: "The defendants violated the true tenants of their faith in pursuit of their radical, violent agenda. We rely on help from the community, the public and religious leaders to be mindful of those who could be radicalized. We cannot do this alone.”

One of the men had offered to try and kill the president if asked, while the other had said he wanted to buy a machine gun to try and shoot police and law enforcement officers.