New Yorkers charged over ISIL extremist plot

Two New York Muslims were hauled before a federal court on Feb. 25 charged with plotting to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) extremists in Syria and threatening to carry out attacks in the United States.
      
FBI agents arrested Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, at John F. Kennedy airport allegedly attempting to board a flight to Istanbul and Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24 -- who had offered to kill President Barack Obama -- was detained at home in Brooklyn.        

A third New York resident, Abror Habibov, 30, was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida accused of funding Saidakhmetov's jihadist quest.
      
The arrests come with Western governments increasingly concerned about a rising number of foreign fighters travelling to Syria through Turkey to join extremist groups.
      
Saidakhmetov is Kazakh while the other two come from Uzbekistan. It was not clear how long they had been in the United States.
      
Last month, a spokesman for ISIL group issued a call on Muslims in the West to carry out new attacks and the extremist network is thought to prey on vulnerable young people through social media.
      
"The flow of foreign fighters to Syria represents an evolving threat to our country and to our allies," said Loretta Lynch, Attorney General nominee and US attorney for the eastern district of New York.
      
"Anyone who threatens our citizens and our allies, here or abroad, will face the full force of American justice."       

US prosecutors said Saidakhmetov wanted to buy a machine gun and shoot US police officers and FBI agents if blocked from fighting in Syria.
      
Prosecutors said Juraboev posted a message online last August offering to kill Obama if ordered...