All 50 states of the United States have been infiltrated by the presence of the Islamic State, the director of the FBI has revealed.
ISIS has become a "chaotic spider web" that has been avidly using social media to radicalize people across the country, FBI Director James Comey told the National Association of Attorneys General.
"We have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states," said Comey. "This isn't a New York phenomenon or a Washington phenomenon. This is all 50 states and in ways that are very hard to see."
The comments come after three Brooklyn men were arrested on Wednesday and charged with conspiring to support ISIS, including two suspects who planned to travel to Syria to fight on behalf of the terrorist organization, Breitbart reported.
Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, of Kazakhstan, was arrested by members of the joint FBI-NYPD Joint Terror Task Force at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday while he was attempting to board a flight to Turkey on his way to Syria, U.S. authorities said. Abror Habibov, 30, of Uzbekistan, was accused of helping to fund Saidakhmetov's efforts.
Another defendant, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, of Uzbekistan, had purchased a ticket for a March flight to Istanbul and was scheduled to leave next month, but was nabbed at his home, said Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn.
On Aug. 9, Juraboev drew the attention of federal agents when he posted messages on an Uzbek-language website stating his desire to join ISIS and his willingness to assassinate President Obama because of the president's support for Israel. "What I'm saying is to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do?" he wrote. "That will strike fear in the heart of infidels."
After confirming his support to the terror group in an interview with undercover agents in August 2014, the 24-year-old revealed that a friend, Saidakhmetov, shared similar views, the complaint said.
Habibov's role in the plot appears to have been providing the money for Saidakhmetov to purchase his ticket at a Coney Island travel agency while also promising him additional funds.
If they failed, their alleged backup plan was to launch a terror attack in the U.S. and possibly kill FBI agents.
Currently, the agency is carrying out an investigation on suspected ISIS supporters who reportedly reside in all 50 states.
"Those people exist in every state. I have homegrown violent extremist investigations in every single state. Until a few weeks ago it was 49 states. Alaska had none which I couldn't quite figure out. But Alaska has now joined the group so we have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states," Comey said.
"ISIL in particular is putting out a siren song with their slick propaganda through social media," the FBI Director said, describing the jihadist group's message as, "Troubled soul, come to the caliphate, you will live a life of glory, these are the apocalyptic end times, you will find a life of meaning here, fighting for our so-called caliphate. And if you can't come, kill somebody where you are."
Particularly, the message "resonates with troubled souls, people seeking meaning in some horribly misguided way."
