Second Guilty Plea In Southern Brooklyn Terrorism Ring Trial
Yesterday, Midwood resident Akhror Saidakhmetov, 21, pled guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the foreign terrorist organization ISIL (the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, according to the United States Department of Justice.
Saidakhmetov was one of six young men charged with aiding a Brooklyn-based terrorism ring that allegedly tried to send fighters to ISIL/ISIS in Syria. At sentencing, he faces up to 15 years in prison.
“The defendant was committed to traveling to Syria to join ISIL or to conducting a domestic terror attack if unable to travel to Syria,” said Robert L. Capers, U.S. Attorney For the eastern district of New York. “Thanks to the efforts of FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York, we have prevented two local residents – Saidakhmetov and his codefendant Abdurasul Juraboev – from becoming foreign fighters in Syria or attacking victims here in the United States.”
Saidakhmetov, a citizen of Kazakstan, was arrested in February 2015 at JFK International Airport, as he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, according to court records. His co-conspirator, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, of Uzbekistan, then 24, was arrested the same day with tickets for Turkey, as well as another Uzbekistan national, Abror Habibov, then 30.
“Juraboev first came to the attention of law enforcement in August 2014 for a posting he made on an Uzbek-language website that propagates ISIS ideology. Juraboev wrote that he would assassinate the President of the United States if ordered to do so by ISIS and possibly plant a bomb in Coney Island, according to authorities. A subsequent investigation revealed Juraboev and Saidakhmetov planned to travel to Syria, with the help of Abror Habibov, in order to wage Jihad for ISIS.”
In August 2015, Juraboev (who used to work at a Ditmas Park Gyro Shop) pled guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He is looking at 15 years in prison and awaiting sentencing.
The fourth man in the network, charged in 2015, was Dilkhayot Kasimov, then 26. Kasimov allegedly worked closely with Habibov to raise more than $1,600 from several people to use for ISIS’ benefit in Syria. Kasimov brought the money to Saidakhmetov at JFK airport, handing it over just before Saidakhmetov was apprehended. He’s looking at a maximum sentence of 30 years.
The fifth man, Akmal Zakirov, then 29 — also an Uzbek national — was charged with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to the terror organization in June 2015, after he transferred cash to a man destined for Syria, according to United States Attorney’s Office. He’s looking at 30 years if convicted.
The sixth defendant in the ring, then 26-year-old Azizjon Rakhmatov, also an Uzbek national, was added to the original indictment in May 2016. Rakhmatov is accused of helping pay travel expenses for Akhror Saidakhmetov. Prosecutors say Rakhmatov coordinated with other defendants to pay for Saidakhmetov’s flight and buy him a gun when he arrived in Syria. Rakhmatov is facing a maximum of 50 years if convicted.