Suspected Terrorist Agron Hasbajrami Arrested At JFK Airport, Indicted Friday
NEW YORK (AP / WCBS 880) - A New York City man sought to travel to Pakistan so he could die as a martyr by fighting jihad against U.S. forces, federal prosecutors said Friday.
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Federal agents arrested Agron Hasbajrami on Tuesday after he showed up at John F. Kennedy International Airport with a one-way ticket to Turkey.
Hasbajrami, 27, was charged in an indictment unsealed Friday in federal court in Brooklyn. The indictment says he exchanged email messages with a contact in Pakistan and expressed a desire to die as a martyr.
Prosecutors allege that since 2010, Hasbajrami - an Albanian citizen and legal U.S. resident - gave more than $1,000 to an unidentified terrorist group fighting in Afghanistan.
Hasbajrami sent a message to the group earlier this year saying that he wanted to "marry with the girls in paradise'' - a phrase authorities say means he wanted to die a martyr.
Initially, Hasbajrami was told he should travel to Pakistan, where he could locate the unidentified group through the Pakistani Taliban, prosecutors say. He obtained a visa and a plane ticket, but ended up canceling the trip late last month.
On Sept. 3, a confidential source working with the FBI contacted Hasbajrami by email, telling him he could help him get to Pakistan, prosecutors say. Two days later, he allegedly bought a one-way plane ticket to Istanbul and told the source he was on his way.
Investigators say when they intercepted Hasbajrami at the airport he was carrying his Albanian passport, a tent, boots and cold-weather gear. He told them "he had intended to travel to Pakistan to fight,'' court papers say.
If convicted, Hasbajrami faces up to 15 years in prison.
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