Federal authorities have finally revealed the reasons for an upstate New York man’s arrest in late May: They say he was using revenues from his food store, Halal Mojo and Food Mart, to fund the Islamic State — and was planning to do much more.
Via CNN:
Mufid A. Elfgeeh, 30, was arrested on May 31, though federal officials didn’t outline the case against him until Tuesday. According to an indictment, he faces three counts of trying “to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization” (namely, ISIS), one count of attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States, two counts of having an unregistered firearm silencer and one for possessing guns or silencers “in furtherance of a crime of violence.” . . .
He allegedly wrote in one tweet: “Al Qaeda said it loud and clear: we are fighting the American invasion and their hegemony over the earth and the people.” In another message, Elfgeeh purportedly stated ISIS “will one day rule the world with the will of Allah.”
The affidavit alleges that he urged people to donate a third of their salary or, at least, “#Five_thousand_dollars_from_every_household” (as stated in one tweet) — stressing the importance of supporting groups like ISIS financially. . . .
The affidavit points to conversations with the two FBI informants in which Elfgeeh talked about getting his hands on guns and ammunition to inflict violence stateside. According to the affidavit, Elfgeeh once said he might kill “five or ten already, 15, something like that . . . then we” will post video or another message online to explain why he did it.
“We want . . . to start shooting those who were in the Army who went to Iraq,” he said in April, according to the document.
The Yemeni-born Elfgeeh could find himself detained for some time: Providing material support to a terrorist group is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The attempted murder charge has a maximum sentence of 20 years. Up to 30 years is possible for the firearms charges.