US man arrested for trying to join ISIL terrorists
An American man from Madison, Wisconsin has been arrested and charged with trying to join and provide assistance for the ISIL group, according to the US Justice Department.
Joshua Ray Van Haften, 34, intended to travel to Syria or Iraq as part of a plot to join the ISIL Takfiri terrorists, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Thursday.
Van Haften was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday after arriving on a flight from Turkey. He had been in the custody of Turkish immigration authorities since October, according to John Vaudreuil, the US Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin.
A US magistrate judge ordered Van Haften to be detained after a brief hearing in US District Court in Madison on Thursday.
"Our charge was that he was planning to commit violent acts with ISIL and aid them as a terrorist organization," Vaudreuil told reporters after the hearing.
Prosecutors allege that Van Haften left the United States on August 26, 2014 and headed for Turkey, which is a common transit point for people traveling from the West to enter Syria or Iraq and join ISIL.
According to prosecutors, Van Haften exchanged online messages with friends and alleged ISIL supporters while in Turkey.
In one series of messages with a former roommate in the United States in October, he said "I was about to cross to Syria ... but I didn't make it. Hopefully soon though. ... I'm tired of this life man."
If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.
This comes as two women in New York City were arrested last week over their ties to ISIL and allegedly planning to carry out a "terrorist attack" in the United States.
Last month, US Air Force veteran Tairod Pugh was charged with attempting to join and aid ISIL terrorists in Syria.
Also in March, a US Army National Guard soldier and his cousin were arrested on charges of conspiring to support ISIL and attack a military installation in Illinois.
US officials have warned the public and law enforcement agencies across the country about young Americans wanting to join the ISIL terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
The ISIL terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
AHT/AT
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