A New York state man was charged Tuesday for trying to provide material support to three men who wanted to travel to Syria to join the militant group Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
Mufid A. Elfgeeh was also indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for attempted murder of certain members of the United States military.
Documents also showed that Elfgeeh sent $600 to a person in Yemen so that he could travel to Syria to fight with the rebels.
The New York Times reports that the indictment stated that Elfgeeh planned to kill the military members who returned from Iraq. He was arrested in Rochester in May following a sting operation. He was then charged with illegally receiving and possessing unregistered firearm silencers.
The DOJ stated that Elgeeh told one of the men that he was thinking of getting a gun, ammunition and a bulletproof vest to "just go around and start shooting." He then provided the man with $1,050 cash to buy two handguns with silencers. In May, Elfgeeh was given the weapons and was then arrested by the Rochester Joint Terrorism Task Force.
"We will remain aggressive in identifying and disrupting those who seek to provide support to ISIL and other terrorist groups that are bent on inflicting harm upon Americans," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. "As this case shows, our agents and prosecutors are using all the investigative tools at our disposal to break up these plots before individuals can put their plans into action. We are focused on breaking up these activities on the front end, before supporters of ISIL can make good on plans to travel to the region or recruit sympathizers to this cause."
