U.S. Court Sentences Brooklyn Resident To 15 Years In Prison For Funding ISIS Foreign Fighter
(New York, N.Y.) — Last week, Dilkhayot Kasimov was sentenced by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of conspiring to and attempting to provide material support to ISIS, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Kasimov is an Uzbek national and New York resident. He had faced a possible sentence of 30 years in prison.
In 2015, federal investigators working with assistance from the New York City Policy Department (NYPD) discovered that Kasimov was collecting money to fund fellow ISIS supporters Akhror Saidakhmetov and Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev in their travel to Syria to join ISIS as foreign fighters. Kasimov co-conspired with Abror Habibov to raise funds for Saidakmetov and Juraboev, both residents of New York who are both serving 15-year federal prison sentences. Habibov is still awaiting sentencing.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in February 2015, “Kasimov drove to John F. Kennedy International Airport, met Saidakhmetov at the terminal and handed him $1,600 in cash on behalf of himself, co-conspirator Abror Habibov and others.” Saidakhmetov was stopped by federal agents as he attempted to board the plane destined for Syria, and Kasimov was arrested the same day.
“Monitoring and detaining aspiring foreign fighters mitigates long-term security risks to the United States and abroad. Terrorists who return to the U.S. have the potential to carry out attacks a few months or years after they return,” said Counter Extremism Project (CEP) advisory board member and former director of intelligence at the NYPD Mitchell Silber. “It is essential that local, state, and federal law enforcement have and make use of the tools necessary to detect and deter individuals seeking to be or supporting would-be foreign fighters. The investigation and prosecution of this conspiracy to support ISIS is a reminder of the essential nature of law enforcement’s vigilance.”
To read CEP’s resource Dilkhayot Kasimov, please click here.
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