3 New York City residents charged with plotting to help ISIS

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- The FBI has taken three Brooklyn men into custody for allegedly plotting to join ISIS and help the terror group in the U.S. if they could not get overseas.

The men were identified as Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, a Brooklyn resident and an Uzbekistan citizen; Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, a Brooklyn resident and a Kazakhstan citizen; and Abror Habibov, 30, a Brooklyn resident and an Uzbekistan citizen.

Juraboev and Saidakhmetov were scheduled to appear in federal court in Downtown Brooklyn Wednesday afternoon. Habibov was scheduled to appear at a court in Jacksonville, Florida. The three men were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.

In Summer 2014, Juraboev and Saidakhmetov caught the attention of law enforcement after expressing their support online for the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria using force, according to a criminal complaint.

In an August 2014 posting on an Uzbek-language website about ISIS, Juraboev allegedly offered to kill the U.S. President if he was ordered to by ISIS.

Juraboev and Saidakhmetov allegedly made plans to travel to Turkey and Syria to wage jihad under ISIS, according to authorities. Both are accused of intending to commit acts of terrorism in the U.S. if they could not join ISIS abroad. Saidakhmetov also allegedly planned to buy a machine gun and shoot police officers and FBI agents if he couldn't join ISIS in Syria.

Saidakhmetov was arrested Wednesday at John F. Kennedy Airport attempting to board a flight to Syria. Juraboev was scheduled to fly to Istanbul on March 29. Habibov helped fund Saidakhmetov's efforts to join ISIS and ran a domestic network supporting ISIS. He was arrested in Florida just after midnight.

"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," Assistant Director-in-Charge Rodriguez said in a statement.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

This is the first public case in New York, but New York City Police Comm. William Bratton hinted at ongoing investigations.