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Stonington — The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force charged a West Haven man Sunday with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State after he came to the Town Dock to board a boat to begin his trip to Turkey.

Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 23, a U.S. citizen, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in New Haven and was ordered detained.

According to the criminal complaint that led to his arrest, beginning in September 2018, Elshazly made numerous statements to others, both in person and online, “expressing a desire to travel to Syria and the surrounding area to fight on behalf of ISIS.” In February 2019, he also stated he had saved about $1,000 to travel to Jordan and then Syria to fight with ISIS, the complaint said.

In announcing the arrest Monday, John H. Durham, the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, stated that in October, Elshazly made loud statements in public, such as “How do I get there? How can I help Muslims? How can I do anything?” adding, “God willing! May this country [United States] burn the same way they burned Muslims! May they burn in fire at the end!”

He also stated that in Syria he might be able to kill a hundred kaffirs, or infidels.

“If I do something here how many kaffirs could I kill? One, two, three and then I get shot and I die. It is more benefitting if I go there, I could kill more and will get more faithful rewards,” he is alleged to have said.

The U.S. attorney also alleged that this month, Elshazly sent another person a series of YouTube videos explaining how various high-powered firearms and other weaponry work.

Because he was concerned about being stopped by law enforcement at an airport, the U.S. attorney said, Elshazly arranged to travel by ship to Turkey. He allegedyl gave $500 to another person, believing that would pay for a portion of his trip and eventually hoped to board a container ship to the Mideast.

The charge of conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization such as ISIS carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

Stonington police Capt. Todd Olson said Monday his department provided the FBI with a sergeant who acted as a liaison with the department and a location for tactical briefing. He referred additional questions to the FBI.

FBI spokesman Charles Grady said Monday night that he expects to be able to more details about the case in the coming days.

j.wojtas@theday.com