Lackawanna
Man Who Pledged Allegiance to the Islamic State Arrested
by Abha Shankar • Jul 29, 2015 at
3:03 pm
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A New York man was charged Wednesday with attempting to provide support to
the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group.
Lackawanna resident Arafat Nagi is the latest person among more than two
dozen to be charged for trying to support ISIS in recent months. It
follows Tuesday's arrest in Key West, Fla. of a man who allegedly wanted
to detonate a bomb packed with nails at an area beach.
According to Nagi's complaint, the FBI was tipped to his extremist
beliefs by an acquaintance who also described his propensity to get into
arguments with people about violent jihad. The tipster said Nagi "was angry about the killing of rebels
in Yemen, which he blamed on the United States; pledged an oath to ISIL
leaders; expressed agreement with ISIL tactics, including the killing of
innocent men, women and children."
Nagi allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and the group's leader Abu
Bakr al Baghdadi. He posted pro-ISIS comments on Twitter and urged people
to support the group.
In April, for example, he posted a picture of a dead ISIS fighter with
the caption, "Oh, you who are defaming the Islamic State, its soldiers
shall be present at time of death. Those who have brains ought think &
learn." In May, he posted a picture of someone being beheaded with the
note: "Today, this filth has been killed in the state of Hums [city in
Syria]. He waged a tougher war against Muslims. It is your paradise,
rather, slaughter."
Nagi traveled to Turkey in October 2012 and July 2014 hoping to meet
with ISIS members in Syria. Prior to traveling, he "purchased large number of military
combat items, including a tactical vest, army combat shirt, body armor, a
Shahada flag, combat boots, a backpack, burn kit, hunting knife, machete
and night vision goggles."
In pursuit of his ultimate goal to fight alongside ISIS forces in Syria,
the complaint says, Nagi borrowed several tactics from the ISIS eBook, "Hijrah to the Islamic State," a
travel guide for wannabe jihadis that among other pointers includes ways on
how best to reach Syria, how to pack and how to circumvent Turkish security
forces to cross the border into Syria.
This is not the first time Lackawanna has been home to people accused of
pursuing international terrorism. In 2002, six Yemeni-American men, known
as the "Lackawanna Six," were inspired by an extremist
imam to travel to an al-Qaida training camp in Kandahar, Afghanistan, to
receive weapons training. The camp was visited by now-deceased al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden who gave a
speech to the trainees.
If convicted Nagi faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000
fine.
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