Sajmir Alimehmeti, a 22-year-old within the Bronx borough, was charged in the criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, which said he'd expressed support for Islamic State since 2014.
He is truly one of nearly 90 people that since 2014 have faced U.S. charges over crimes linked to Islamic State, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq and has now claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris in November that killed 130 people.
The U.S. citizen was arrested at his Bronx residence on Tuesday morning, where authorities found an Islamic State flag, a fighting styles weapon and combat-survival knives, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Quigley said within the court.
They also found a passport covered with $2,400 cash, an amount that Quigley said correlated using an amount Alimehmeti had claimed to obtain saved to see Syria to partake of Islamic State.
"He repeatedly expressed their particular desire to travel overseas," Quigley said.
Sylvie Levine, Alimehmeti's lawyer, argued unsuccessfully for bail to be with her client, an existing plumbing assistant who studied to use in funeral services, saying he'd not acted using a lot of his alleged discuss supporting Islamic State.
"He voices his want to do something, but doesn't take further action," she said.
According towards complaint, Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York Police Department officials posing as Islamic State sympathizers began selecting Alimehmeti pursuing the United Kingdom twice denied him entry in 2014.
During his second attempt, when he reached Heathrow Airport, authorities discovered numerous images of Islamic State flags and explosive attacks on his cellphone, the complaint said.
Prosecutors said the other day, Alimehmeti helped an undercover official obtain travel documents and equipment as a way to go to Syria to partake of Islamic State.
The complaint said he told undercover operatives he and his awesome brother planned to check out Syria but his brother was arrested in Albania, where his parents live, knowning that he'd saved $2,500 to see Syria but needed a passport.
The complaint said Alimehmeti had applied in October for virtually every new U.S. passport, making false claims about losing his old one amid concerns the U.K. rejection stamps it carried would raise suspicions.
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