An 18-year-old Westminster man was arrested by the FBI at Denver International Airport on Monday as he allegedly began an overseas trip to join the Islamic State group as a fighter.
Humzah Mashkoor was arrested at the airport at about 9 a.m. after clearing security but before he reached the terminal trains, according to a complaint filed in federal district court on Monday.
Mashkoor is charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
According to a 37-page complaint filed by the FBI, Mashkoor began communicating with agency employees posing as Islamic State group supporters online in September 2022.
Over the following 14 months, Mashkoor “repeatedly expressed his intent to travel in order to join ISIS as a fighter, to provide money to ISIS to support their efforts, and to recruit others to also support ISIS through travel and/or financial contributions,” according to the complaint.
Mashkoor also told FBI employees that an Islamic State group contact suggested he conduct an attack in the United States, but that Mashkoor was worried about how that would impact his family and that he would rather travel overseas to join the terrorist group.
According to the complaint, Mashkoor told FBI employees that he was born in the U.S. and had returned to Afghanistan for a few years before his family was forced to leave. He had also previously supported the Taliban, according to the complaint.
Mashkoor used coded language on social media and encrypted messaging applications to communicate with undercover FBI employees, telling them his plans to travel overseas to join the Islamic State group were delayed because he was not yet 18 years old and his family wouldn’t let him leave.
At one point, Mashkoor told the undercover FBI employees that he hoped that “Allah allows me to kill many of the enemy with my own hands,” including specific religious groups.
Mashkoor also discussed leaving videos to explain what he was doing to his family but said he was worried that federal agents were tracking his online activity.
Mashkoor bought tickets to fly out of Denver to the United Arab Emirates with a relative, where he would stay until he traveled on to Afghanistan or Syria to fight for the Islamic State group, according to the complaint.
After his arrest, FBI officials found journal entries at Mashkoor’s Westminster home in which he wrote about feeling isolated until he found “others like” him and that he had no regrets about his path, according to the complaint.
“And I hope to be granted one of two things. Victory over my enemies, or martyrdom,” Mashkoor wrote in his journal, according to the FBI complaint.
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