A man from Connecticut was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization as he prepared to embark on a journey to Turkey to join ISIS, officials say.

Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 22, was apprehended at a marina in Stonington, Conn., while attempting to arrange a sea journey to Turkey, according to charging documents reviewed by the New York Post.

Elshazly had made “numerous statements to others, both in person and through online messaging applications, expressing a desire to travel to Syria and the surrounding area to fight on behalf of ISIS,” a court filing states.

Undercover informants quote Elshazly as saying, “I want to go to the caliphate and fight there. I can kill maybe … like a hundred kaffir [infidels]. I can kill them. A hundred kaffirs.”

“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.”

Elshazly is reportedly a U.S. citizen, but hoped to see the country “burn.”

“They say, ‘War has started and we are marching to it’ … but all doors are closed, closed. I am talking to myself now, asking myself, ‘How do I get there? How can I help Muslims? How can I do anything?'” Elshazly reportedly told informants.

“God willing! May this country [United States] burn the same way they burned Muslims! May they burn in fire at the end!”

After saving approximately $1,000 to journey to Jordan and Syria to join ISIS, Elshazly reportedly deemed air travel too risky, instead seeking passage on a cargo ship bound for Turkey.

“The National Security Division is committed to identifying and holding accountable those who continue to seek to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers announced in a statement.

Elshazly has been ordered held without bail by a federal judge in New Haven and faces up to 20 years in prison.



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