West Haven man arrested by Federal Authorities for ISIS plot

A West Haven man faces a bond hearing Friday, less than a week after he was arrested by federal authorities for an alleged plan to travel to the Middle East and join ISIS.

The man was arrested on Dec. 15 as he tried to board a ship in Stonington.

Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 22, was charged with providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

According to an affidavit prepared by Christopher Evans, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Elshazly had been talking to informants since September 2018 about going to Syria to fight for ISIS.

Evans said Elshazly eventually decided to go to Turkey first, where he’d build weapons to bring with him to Syria.

“He said we need easy access to materials and it needs to be built in Turkey where you can get the parts easily,” Evans wrote in the affidavit. “Elshazly said that once the prototypes of whatever weapon they want to develop were built, then they will smuggle it into [ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-] Sham and test it there.”

To get the trip going, the affidavit says, Elshazly gave an informant $500 to get on a fishing boat at a Stonington marina that he thought would transport him to a container ship bound for Turkey.

On Dec. 15, Elshazly went to the marina and was arrested.

His public defender didn’t respond to Connecticut Public Radio’s request for comment.

He’s so far been held without bond, and the U.S. Department of Justice said it has two weeks to indict Elshazly.

Source: WNPR