NEW YORK—A New York man repeatedly traveled to the Middle East to try to join ISIS or another terrorist group and later told authorities he'd been prepared to strap on a bomb to sacrifice himself for jihad, prosecutors said Saturday.
And when police on suburban Long Island arrested Elvis Redzepagic on Feb. 2 on a minor, unrelated charge, he told them: “I’m going to leave this country, and I’m going to come back with an Army—Islam is coming,” according to a federal court complaint unsealed Saturday.
The 26-year-old U.S. citizen was being held without bail after appearing in a Brooklyn federal court Saturday. He’s charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Redzepagic’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment; no one immediately responded to phone or email messages to his relatives.
Authorities have prosecuted a number of people accused of aiming to join the ISIS terrorist group and other terrorists in recent years, though in some cases, the accused haven’t actually succeeded in traveling overseas.
