USA v. Khusanov, Dilshod
Brooklyn, NY

ISIS/Al-Nusra Front

Dilshod Khusanov pleaded guilty in October 2021 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and Al-Nusra Front (ANF). Khusanov encouraged individuals to travel to Syria to wage violent jihad, or holy war in 2014 and 2015. On September 28, 2014, for example, Khusanov urged co-conspirator Akmal Zakirov to engage in jihad: "I hope that the only [reason] that is preventing you from jihad is some mistakes and flaws that are occurring among" the other fighters. Khusanov explained that it would be better to help those fighters, rather than criticize them. Later in 2014, two Brooklyn residents, Abdurasul Juraboev and Akhror Saidakhmetov, began planning to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS. A group of individuals in a domestic network based in New York and elsewhere, including Khusanov, worked together to raise and contribute money to help fund that trip to Syria. In February 2015, Abror Habibov, Zakirov, Azizjon Rakhmatov, and Dilkhayot Kasimov discussed providing money to support Saidakhmetov's travel and expenses in Syria. Rakhmatov and Zakirov also agreed to solicit money from others to fund Saidakhmetov's travel. Zakirov contacted Khusanov, then-based in Illinois, and asked him to contribute money for Saidakhmetov's travel and to ask another individual to contribute money as well. Khusanov agreed and arranged for money to be deposited in Zakirov's bank account before Saidakhmetov's scheduled departure. Saidakhmetov was arrested in February 2015 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, as he boarded a plane bound for Istanbul, Turkey, a transit point for foreign fighters bound for Syria.

See related case US v. Juraboev, et al. see: https://www.investigativeproject.org/case/702/us-v-juraboev-et-al