The arrest of a Tajik man in New York on charges of sending money to members of the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIS) terrorist network in Turkey and Syria has sparked new debate about the level of radicalization and recruitment of extremists in Tajikistan, Intel News reported.
The truck driver, Mansouri Manuchehri, 33, was taken into custody while appearing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced on February 26.
“A criminal complaint was filed today in Brooklyn federal court charging Mansouri Manouchehri with conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Khorasan Province (ISIL), possession of a firearm while unlawfully present in the United States, and immigration fraud,” the statement said. Manouchehri was arrested today and made his first appearance this afternoon before Judge Robert M. Levy, who issued a warrant for his arrest.
“As alleged, the defendant, who was unlawfully present in the United States, not only facilitated tens of thousands of dollars in aid to ISIS extremists abroad, but also trained with assault rifles at shooting ranges in the United States and declared his readiness to join ISIS,” said U.S. Attorney General Durham. Protecting the homeland and prosecuting the villains who aid terrorist organizations by funding their violent and hateful agendas here and abroad will always be a priority for this office,” the law firm said.
The law firm claimed that Manouchehri recorded himself firing an assault rifle at a shooting range in New Jersey “and sent the video to an ISIS affiliate in Turkey with the message, ‘Thank God, I’m ready, brother,’” the office said in a statement.
“As alleged in the complaint, Manouchehri traveled to the United States from Tajikistan in June 2016 on a nonimmigrant tourist visa and remained in the country after his visa expired in December 2016. However, he failed to provide certain supporting documents requested by the government, and his application was never granted.
“From December 2021 to April 2023, Manouchehri made payments of approximately $70,000 to ISIS affiliates in Turkey and Syria while residing in Brooklyn, including to an individual who was later arrested by Turkish authorities for his involvement in the January 2024 mass terrorist attack on a church in Istanbul for which ISIS claimed responsibility,” the office said in a statement. Manuchehri has expressed his support for ISIS to others by praising past ISIS attacks in the United States and collecting ISIS propaganda videos.
If convicted, Manuchehri faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison.
Manuchehri’s arrest comes just months after U.S. authorities deported eight Tajik citizens accused of links to ISIS. Meanwhile, the Tajik government said it has stepped up efforts to counter the growing threats of religious extremism and terrorism.
Terrorism analysts say at least 30 Tajiks have been involved in ISIS-linked terrorist attacks and plots outside the borders of Muslim-majority Tajikistan since January 2024. ISIS-K, sometimes known as ISKP, is based in Afghanistan, neighboring Tajikistan and home to a significant ethnic Tajik minority.
It is ISKP that claimed responsibility for the March 2024 terrorist attack outside Moscow in which at least 145 people were killed at the Crocus City Hall concert venue. Four Tajik men accused of being the gunmen who carried out the attack – an attack that brought the growing role of Tajik nationals in ISIS terrorism to the world’s attention – remain on trial in Russia.
Russian authorities have arrested up to 20 people in total, most of them Tajik nationals, as they hunt down migrants who were helping the attackers.
In Iran, two Tajik nationals carried out a double suicide bombing in January 2024 that killed 91 people. On the same day, two terrorists targeted a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul. Turkish authorities said one of the attackers was from Tajikistan. German police said in January 2024 that a Tajik migrant had been arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on cathedrals in Germany and Austria.
What the report fails to note is that ISIS has been actively supported by the United States and that American forces have rushed to its aid and provided it with weapons when it was in trouble in Syria. Now, by exaggerating the affiliation of this terrorist group to Tajikistan, they are seeking to spread terrorism in Central Asia in order to ride the wave of terrorism and achieve their own interests.
