Chicago man accused of trying to join Islamic State

Aamer Madhani | USA TODAY

CHICAGO — A federal grand jury has indicted a 19-year-old Chicago-area man accused of trying to travel overseas to join Islamic State militants in Syria, federal law enforcement officials announced Friday.

Mohammed Hamzah Khan, of the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, was charged in October with trying to provide material to the Islamic State in a single-count indictment returned late Thursday, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

The indictment formalizes that charge against Khan, who was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport as he was about to board a flight to Vienna en route to Turkey.

Khan, who has been in federal custody since his arrest, told FBI agents that once he was in Turkey, he intended to travel by bus to a transit point where he would meet an Islamic State contact who would get him into Syria, according to a criminal complaint.

Khan was radicalized and recruited his 16-year-old brother and 17-year-old sister to join the cause, according to prosecutors. Khan purchased three round-trip plane tickets to Istanbul, saving money for the tickets by working at a big box retailer last summer.

Federal agents discovered diaries and letters in Khan's home expressing anger over U.S.-led bombing campaigns in Syria and Iraq that targeted the Islamic State.

The three teens were stopped at O'Hare, but only Khan has been charged.

If convicted, Khan could face 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Federal authorities have remained mum about how they were tipped off about Khan.

Khan's attorney, Thomas Durkin, said the suspect's parents, Shafi and Zarine, did not alert authorities about his plans to travel overseas.

Khan was born in the USA and had attended one year at Benedictine College in the western suburbs of Chicago.