The son of Afghan migrants was arrested by federal law enforcement officials this week for allegedly trying to board a flight to the Middle East so he could join the Islamic State (ISIS), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).
Humzah Mashkoor, 18, from Colorado, was arrested on Monday at Denver International Airport before he was able to get on a flight headed to “to the United Arab Emirates, where he intended to stay until he continued on to either Afghanistan or Syria to serve as a fighter for ISIS,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.
He was charged with attempting to provide material support to an FTO.
Authorities began monitoring Mashkoor in November 2021 after he reportedly expressed support online for ISIS and began to use social media to connect with ISIS supporters, according to Denver7 News.
The following year, he began communicating with multiple undercover FBI agents who were posing as supporters of the terrorist organization and expressed his “intent to join ISIS as a fighter, provide money to the organization and recruit other supporters,” the report said. He told them that he had been to Afghanistan before his family was forced to leave.
He said he was frustrated because he could not make the trip or provide resources to the terror group because he was still a minor.
Earlier this year he reportedly expressed interest in getting married, finding a job, and finishing his high school education, the report said. But he was concerned about “abandoning” his potential wife while fighting in Afghanistan if he became “martyred.”
His family did not know why he was leaving the U.S. to go overseas and he only purchased a one-way plane ticket to the U.A.E.
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He told one of the undercover agents that his family was sad he was leaving, adding: “I don’t know how to properly say my final goodbyes to them or how to convey the reasons why I left without compromising myself.”
After arriving at DIA, he proceeded to go through the TSA security checkpoint and immediately after passing through he was taken into custody.
A search warrant that was executed on his home turned up an ISIS flag and a note explaining his intent to join the group.
Denver7 News highlighted the following excerpts that law enforcement says they discovered in a journal of his:
- “I fell in love with their (ISIS) steadfastness in the face of such animosity.”
- “From then on I decided I wanted to be like them. Leaving behind the hypocritical life of humiliation to migrate to the lands of jihad.”
- “So once again I state, that I have NO regrets about this blessed path decorated with thorns. And I hope to be granted one of two things. Victory over my enemies, or martyrdom.”
- “I will never forget all that you’ve done for me and I’m sorry for how I treated you. Goodbye.”