BY AARON MILLER
Federal officials have arrested a young male New Yorker today for allegedly supporting ISIS.
The arrest follows an ingenious FBI and NYPD sting operation in which the 22-year-old was duped by at least four undercover law enforcement agents, according to court documents.
Sajmir Alimehmeti, from the Bronx, was arrested before dawn this morning without incident. He is accused by the Department of Justice of helping a person he believed to be an ISIS recruit travel to Syria to fight with ISIS by giving him advice and helping the individual get last minute supplies. The individual in question was actually working for federal authorities. Alimehmeti was also charged with passport fraud for allegedly lying about losing his passport in an attempt to get a new one.
The successful sting confirms the existence of a number of people covertly supporting ISIS, who have not yet come out in the open to commit any terrorist acts. The FBI are said to be monitoring over 800 suspected terrorists or aids of terrorists in America. The Federal officials who arrested the young New yorker have strong evidence against him.
ATTEMPTS
Alimehmeti attempted to join ISIS himself in 2014 but was stopped in the U.K twice. The first time he was stopped because authorities found camouflage pants and shirts, as well as nunchucks, in Alimehmeti’s luggage and the second time because U.K. authorities found “images of [ISIS] flags” and “improvised explosive device attacks” on his cellphone. He was sent back to the U.S.
COMPLAINTS
The complaint lodged by the Department of justice says that U.K. authorities shared this information with the U.S. in late 2014, and that by the fall of 2015, a complex plan was put together to use a team of undercover agents in an investigation into Alimehmeti’s purported connection to ISIS. The plan included the staging of one agent’s fake travel to Raqqa, Syria, complete with photographs of the agent with what looked like desert in the background.
Whilst in the company of a rotating number of undercover agents, he allegedly repeatedly showed his support for ISIS. When he told that one of the undercover agent’s was planning to travel to Syria, Alimehmeti “expressed excitement and indicated jealousy of the undercover agent, requesting in the process that the agent ‘hook him up,’” according to the complaint by Federal officials.
“I’m ready to f—ing go with you, man … You know I would … I’m done with this place. There are kuffar [unbelievers] everywhere,” he said later, upon learning of another “ISIS recruit’s” plans to travel to Syria, according to the complaint.
SEARCH
Following a search of Alimehmeti’s computer, federal officials who arrested the new yorker, say they found further purported evidence of his support for ISIS surfaced, including a photograph of him with the black flag commonly associated with ISIS in the background. The computer also contained photos of ISIS fighters in the Middle East, the FBI said.
Hate sermons by Anwar Al-Awlaki’s- a U.S born member of Al-qaeda killed in a U.S drone strike in 2011 were found on a computer belonging to Alimehmeti, lending weight to the evidence against him. Al-Awlaki is believed by Federal officials to have inspired several Americans to commit terrorism-related crimes. Alimehmeti will be lucky to come out anytime soon.
