A West Haven man was arrested Sunday after attempting to travel to the Middle East to join and fight for ISIS, according to the Department of Justice.
Ahmad Khalil Elshazly, 22, appeared before a federal judge in New Haven on Monday and ordered detained.
According to federal prosecutors, Elshazly was concerned about being stopped by law enforcement at the airport. Instead, he made arrangements to travel by container ship to Turkey.
Elshazly was arrested after he arrived in Stonington, where prosecutors said he expected to board a ship to begin his trip to the Middle East.
As early as September 2018, Elshazy is alleged to have made comments to people in person and online, that he wanted to travel to Syria and the surrounding area to fight on behalf of ISIS.
According to the criminal complaint, Elshazy met with other individuals in October and talked about how he wanted to fight for ISIS.
“…I want to go to the caliphate and fight there. I can kill maybe…like a hundred kaffir. I can kill them. A hundred kaffirs. If I do something here how many kaffirs could I kill? One, two, three and then I get shot and I die. It is more benefitting if I go there, I could kill more and will get more faithful rewards,” Elshazy said, according to prosecutors.
