American Arrested as He Tries to Leave Country to Fight for ISIS: Feds

Hamzah Khan Facebook.

A 19-year-old from Bolingbrook was arrested Saturday night at O’Hare International Airport, accused of attempting to travel overseas to support a terrorism organization operating inside Iraq and Syria, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago.

The man, identified as Mohammed Hamzah Khan, is charged with attempting to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), officials said.

Kahn was charged Monday with one count of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization, according U.S. officials.

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Khan, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by members of Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force at O’Hare as he allegedly attempted to fly to Vienna, Austria, on his way to Istanbul, Turkey.

According to the criminal complaint, a roundtrip ticket was purchased for Khan on Sept. 26 from Chicago to Istanbul, departing Saturday and returning later this week.

According to officials, law enforcement agents observed Khan passing through a security checkpoint in O’Hare’s international terminal on Saturday afternoon.

While Khan was at the airport, federal agents executed a search warrant at his home and found “multiple handwritten documents that appeared to be drafted by Khan and/or others, which expressed support for ISIL,” the affidavit alleges. Some of the documents allegedly contain references to ISIL and jihad, according to the complaint.

Among the documents was a page in a notebook saying, in Arabic, “Islamic State in Iraq and Levant. Here to stay. We are the lions of war ...,” according to the complaint, and another page with drawing of what appeared to be an armed fighter with the ISL flag behind him and the words, “Come to jihad.”

A letter allegedly left for Khan’s parents told them “FIRST and FOREMOST, PLEASE MAKE SURE NOT TO TELL THE AUTHORITIES,” and stated that he had an “obligation to ‘migrate’ to the ‘Islamic state,’” and that he was upset that he was obligated to pay taxes to the U.S. “that would be used to kill his ’Muslim brothers and sisters,’” the complaint alleges.

Khan was initially approached by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and was later interviewed by FBI agents at the airport, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He appeared in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Monday morning.

According to the complaint, Kahn told agents that he had met a person, identified as “Individual C,” online, and that person had provided him with the phone number of a person Khan was to call when he arrived in Istanbul. That person would then take Khan to where ISIS was, according to the affidavit. Khan allegedly told the FBI that he did not intend to return to the United States.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.