Juraboev, who is also known as Adbulloh Ibn Hasan, came to the attention of authorities after he posted threatening messages to an Uzbek-language website in August 2014, according to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Brooklyn.
‘We too wanted to pledge our allegiance and commit ourselves while not present there,’ Juraboev wrote while using the name Abdulloh ibn Hasan.
‘I am in USA now but we don’t have any arms,’ he wrote.
‘But is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here?
‘What I’m saying is, to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do?’
During a meeting with law enforcement officials at his Brooklyn home, Juraboev said he would kill the president because ‘of Allah,’ and that he would also bomb Coney Island if asked to do so.
Juraboev also said he ‘wanted to be a martyr’ against the ‘polytheists and infidels’
Saidakhmetov and an informant watched videos of Islamic State training camps in Syria, according to court papers.
Saidakhmetov told the informant in September that he wanted to travel to Syria for jihad, or holy war, but that his concerned mother confiscated his passport so he couldn’t travel, the complaint said. He said he would lie and tell her he planned to go to Uzbekistan to visit relatives. When he called to ask for his passport back, she hung up the phone.
‘The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies,’ said state US Attorney Loretta Lynch, who is Obama’s choice to be U.S. attorney general.
Saidakhmetov’s attorney, Adam Perlmutter, said his client was a ‘young, innocent kid’ who would plead not guilty.
‘This is the type of case that highlights everything that is wrong with how the Justice Department approaches these cases,‘ Perlmutter said. Juraboev’s attorney had no immediate comment.
Saidakhmetov booked a flight to Turkey on Feb. 19 and seemed like just another ‘regular American teenager,’ said workers at Nil Travel in Coney Island who helped him.
‘He was just like anyone around us. He was totally normal. He wasn’t nervous,’ said assistant manager Frank Cakir. ‘It’s just scary.’
Read more: Daily Mail
FBI: Three men attempted to join ISIS
Suspect threatened to shoot Obama
Until their arrests Wednesday in connection with an alleged failed attempt to join ISIS in Syria, Saidakhmetov and Juraboev appeared to live the mundane lives of ordinary Brooklyn immigrants.
They also appeared careless in planning their alleged plot. One man, for instance, showed up at U.S. Homeland Security offices to apply for a travel document, authorities said. They sometimes communicated online because they believed it would be harder for authorities to trace.
Juraboev allegedly discussed assassinating President Barack Obama, according to the complaint. But he told an FBI agent that he “currently does not have the means or an imminent plan to do so.”
Juraboev and Saidakhmetov, authorities said, planned to embark on the journey to Turkey on Wednesday.
One of them discussed the possibility of hijacking a commercial flight to Turkey and diverting it “to the Islamic State, so that the Islamic State would gain a plane,” the complaint said. They also talked about joining the U.S. military in order to attack soldiers.
Juraboev and Saidakhmetov were arrested in New York; Habibov in Florida. They face charges that include attempting and conspiring to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, the complaint said.
Saidakhmetov was arrested Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport attempting to catch a flight to Turkey, authorities said.
Juraboev, who was to catch a later flight, was arrested at his home in Brooklyn. Habibov, who Bratton said “helped organize and finance” the operation, was in Jacksonville, Florida, when he was picked up.
In addition to threats against Obama, the suspects allegedly talked of killing U.S. law enforcement officers. Juraboev allegedly mentioned planting a bomb at Coney Island if ordered to do so by ISIS.
An FBI intelligence bulletin to state and local law enforcement urged officers to be vigilant for not only recruits, but people who may want to carry out attacks.
‘Ham-fisted tactics’
“These individuals highlight the continued interest among U.S.-based violent extremist to support designated terrorist organizations,” the bulletin said.
Outside federal court in Brooklyn, attorney Adam Perlmutter, who represents Saidakhmetov, said his client will plead not guilty if indicted.
“This case really makes us question the federal government’s approach … to young Muslim men in America,” he told reporters. “They are very ham-fisted tactics. There is no attempt to intervene, to speak, to explore, to understand. There’s just the rush to prosecution, to arrest, and to conviction.”
From Jan – 2015
FBI sting nabs ISIS sympathizer in ‘plot’ to bomb Capitol