WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th July, 2019) US authorities arrested a Bronx man at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as he attempted to travel to join the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Justice Department said.
"As alleged, [Delowar Mohammed] Hossain planned to travel overseas and join the Taliban in order to kill American soldiers," US Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in a press release on Friday.
The criminal complaint filed in Federal court said that beginning in the fall of 2018, Hossain expressed his desire to join the Taliban and fight against American forces.
"Over the months that followed, Hossain attempted to recruit a confidential source of the FBI to travel with Hossain from the United States to Pakistan, and then to cross the border into Afghanistan to join the Taliban," the release said
Hossain told the source that his purpose was to fight the American government and kill non-believers, according to the release.
Hossain planned to go to Pakistan by first flying to Thailand to conceal his ultimate goal of joining the Taliban, the release said.
He also purchased equipment such as walkie-talkies and trekking gear and weapons to prepare for the fight in Afghanistan, according to the Justice Department.
Hossain, a US citizen, was presented on Friday before Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron in federal court in the New York borough of Manhattan, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on a single count of attempting to provide material support for terrorism, according to the release.
