Posted on July 19, 2019

Naturalized U.S. Citizen Charged with Becoming ISIS Sniper and Weapons Instructor

Hollie McKay, Fox News, July 19, 2019

Federal investigators say the man rose through the ranks to train other ISIS fighters; Laura Ingle reports.

A 42-year-old Brooklyn, New York, man has been charged with providing and attempting to provide material support – including training, services and personnel – to ISIS in Syria, the Department of Justice announced Friday after unsealing a criminal complaint in Brooklyn federal court.

Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a Kazakhstan-born, naturalized U.S citizen is alleged to have traveled to Istabul, Turkey, in late 2013 before moving across the border into Syria where he became a sniper for the designated terrorist outfit.

Asainov then rose through the ranks, prosecutors contend, to become an “emir” and oversaw the training of other ISIS recruits in the use of weapons. He is also accused of attempting to entice another person residing in the U.S. to join ISIS in Syria.

“The defendant, a naturalized U.S. citizen residing in Brooklyn, turned his back on the country that took him in and joined ISIS, serving its violent ends in Syria,” U.S Attorney Richard Donoghue stated, highlighting that he will now face justice in an American courtroom. {snip}

In March 2015 he requested $2,800 from an informant to purchase a rifle scope, sending photographs of boasting about the group’s barbarity and declaring his wish to die on the battlefield. {snip}

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