Sajmir Alimehmeti Amassed Combat Knives and ISIS Propaganda
in His Apartment, Facilitated Equipment Purchases by an Individual He Believed
Was Traveling to Syria to Fight with ISIS, and Conspired with Chelsea Bomber
Ahmad Khan Rahimi to Distribute Terrori
Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for
National Security, William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the
New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Dermot F.
Shea, Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced
today that SAJMIR ALIMEHMETI, a/k/a “Abdul Qawii,” was sentenced to 22 years in
prison based on convictions for attempting to provide material support to the
Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (“ISIS”), and for attempting to fraudulently
procure a U.S. passport to facilitate an act of international terrorism. ALIMEHMETI pled guilty on February 21, 2018,
before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, who imposed today’s sentence.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Bronx resident Sajmir Alimehmeti took the
position of an adversary to the United States and its values. Alimehmeti’s contempt for the U.S. led him to
travel overseas to support ISIS’s terror campaign, eventually purchasing
military-type weapons and assisting another to get travel documents, equipment,
and encryption technology to fight with ISIS in Syria. Even after his incarceration, Alimemehti
continued his supportive conduct for ISIS by working with convicted Chelsea
bomber Ahmad Khan Rahimi, to distribute ISIS propaganda in prison. I sincerely commend our law enforcement
partners for their commitment to detecting and apprehending those who support
the disruption of American life through brazen acts of terrorism.”
Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said: “Alimehmeti was determined to support
ISIS. He attempted to travel overseas to
support the terrorist group, he assisted another person he believed to be a
fellow ISIS supporter to prepare to purportedly travel to join ISIS, he lied on
his passport application so he could get a clean passport to ease his efforts
to travel overseas to join ISIS, and while in pretrial detention, he conspired
with another terrorist to spread ISIS propaganda. With today’s sentence, he is being held
accountable for his crimes. The National
Security Division will continue to work with our partners to identify, disrupt
and hold accountable those who seek to provide material support to designated
foreign terrorist organizations. I want
to thank the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this
case.”
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr.
said: “Sajmir Alimehmeti was so
committed to supporting and furthering the ISIS agenda, that when his multiple
attempts to travel overseas raised enough red flags to deny him entry, he
turned to assisting someone he thought shared his same objective. Unbeknownst to him, however, that someone was
an undercover employee. Today’s
sentencing is a welcome end to this case, and another successful outcome for
the many agents, detectives, and analysts on FBI’s JTTF in New York. Their work and our extensive partnerships are
essential to keeping New York City and the nation safe.”
NYPD Commissioner Dermot F. Shea said: “Sajmir Alimehmeti betrayed the country he
called home by trying to travel overseas to join ISIS, a brutal terrorist group
at war with the United States. When that
failed, Alimehmeti deliberately assisted another individual he believed was
traveling to join ISIS. At the same
time, the investigation revealed he was acquiring tactical knives, handcuffs
and equipment indicative of efforts to prepare for an attack here in New York
City. This case is another example of
the relentless efforts of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the NYPD’s Intelligence
Bureau to prevent terrorism before it occurs.”
As reflected in the criminal Complaint, Superseding
Indictment, court filings, and statements during court proceedings:
In October 2014, ALIMEHMETI attempted to enter the United
Kingdom but was denied entry after U.K. authorities found camouflage clothing
and nunchucks in his luggage.
Approximately two months later, in December 2014, ALIMEHMETI was again
denied entry into the United Kingdom, this time after U.K. authorities found
that his cellphone contained images of ISIS flags. Further forensic examination of the contents
of the cellphone and ALIMEHMETI’s laptop computer showed numerous indicia of
ALIMEHMETI’s support for ISIS, including a photograph of ALIMEHMETI with an
ISIS flag in the background, images of ISIS fighters in the Middle East, a
photograph of ALIMEHMETI making a gesture of support for ISIS, various files
relating to jihad and martyrdom, and an online messaging exchange in which
ALIMEHMETI attempted to assist another ISIS supporter to travel to Syria to
join ISIS by providing contact information for an ISIS affiliate who could
facilitate the travel.
After returning to the United States, ALIMEHMETI continued
to support ISIS. Among other things,
ALIMEHMETI displayed an ISIS flag in his apartment in the Bronx and, in the course
of recorded meetings with undercover law enforcement employees, ALIMEHMETI
played multiple pro-ISIS propaganda videos on his computer and his cellphone,
including videos of ISIS fighters decapitating prisoners, and ALIMEHMETI also
indicated that he was interested in radicalizing other individuals in the Bronx
area. ALIMEHMETI also made repeated
purchases of combat knives and other military-type equipment, including masks,
handcuffs, a pocket chainsaw, a wire pocket saw, and a rucksack designed for tactical
combat. ALIMEHMETI stockpiled such
equipment at his apartment in the Bronx.
In October 2015, ALIMEHMETI applied for a U.S. passport,
falsely claiming in the application that his previous passport had been
lost. ALIMEHMETI later told an undercover
law enforcement employee that his prior passport had not been lost and,
instead, that he was applying for a new passport because he believed the
rejection stamps in his existing passport resulting from his attempted entries
into the United Kingdom would make it difficult to travel to ISIS territory.
In May 2016, ALIMEHMETI attempted to assist an individual
who was purportedly traveling from New York to Syria to train and fight with
ISIS but who was actually an undercover law enforcement employee (the “UC”). On May 17, 2016, ALIMEHMETI met with the UC
in Manhattan. ALIMEHMETI helped the UC
locate stores so the UC could purchase supplies to use while traveling to, and
fighting with, ISIS, including a cellphone, boots, a compass, a bag, and a
flashlight, among other items.
ALIMEHMETI then brought the UC to a hotel in Queens so the UC could
purportedly meet with an individual who was preparing travel documents that the
UC would use to travel to Syria to join ISIS.
ALIMEHMETI gave the UC a piece of paper with his name and contact
information, and asked the UC to provide that information to the purported
document facilitator. ALIMEHETI
explained that he wanted to travel to Syria and join ISIS, stating “I’m ready
to . . . go with you man . . . you know I would. I’m done with this place.” After leaving the hotel in Queens, ALIMEHETI
brought the UC to JFK Airport, via public transportation, so the UC could begin
the purported journey to ISIS.
Following ALIMEHMETI’s arrest on the charges in this case in
May 2016, the FBI executed a search of ALIMEHMETI’s Bronx apartment pursuant to
a judicially authorized search warrant.
The FBI found in the apartment, among other things, an ISIS flag that
was displayed on a wall in the apartment.
In 2017, while ALIMEHMETI was incarcerated and awaiting
trial, law enforcement learned that ALIMEHMETI had worked with Ahmad Khan
Rahimi inside the prison to aggregate and distribute terrorist propaganda that
was part of the evidence in their respective cases and produced to them during
discovery. Rahimi was sentenced to life
in prison, in February 2018, for planting a series of bombs in New York and New
Jersey in September 2016. Law
enforcement also intercepted a letter that ALIMHEMETI sent to Rahimi, after
their propaganda-distribution scheme inside the jail was thwarted, in which
ALIMEHMETI referred to himself as the “ISIS balla,” indicated that he had
destroyed evidence of their propaganda distribution efforts, and expressed hope
that both convicted terrorists would ultimately achieve so-called martyrdom
through another act of terrorism.
*
* *
In addition to the prison term, ALIMEHMETI, 26, of the
Bronx, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.
Mr. Berman praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s New
York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which consists of investigators and analysts
from the FBI, the NYPD, and over 50 other federal, state and local agencies; the
NYPD’s Intelligence Division; the Department of Justice’s Office of
International Affairs; the Albania State Police; and the Metropolitan Police
Service’s Counter Terrorism Command of London, United Kingdom. Mr. Berman also thanked the Counterterrorism
Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism
and International Narcotics Unit.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emil J. Bove III and George D. Turner are in
charge of the case, with assistance from Trial Attorney Joseph Attias of the
National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment