Like countless 19-year-olds, Akhror Saidakhmetov lived much of his life online.
But it was some of the darkest corners of the Internet that most compelled him, according to the authorities. On websites sympathetic to the Islamic State, he could find videos of the group’s beheadings, mass executions and crucifixions, carried out in a campaign to seize territory in Iraq and Syria and establish a fundamentalist Muslim caliphate.
In recent months, according to the authorities, Mr. Saidakhmetov had made up his mind to go to the killing fields and join the fight.
But before he could go off to wage war, he first needed to get his passport back from his mother.
Mr. Saidakhmetov was arrested on Wednesday, along with two other Brooklyn men, Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, and Abror Habibov, 30. They were charged with providing support to the Islamic State, the allegations outlined in a 23-page affidavit prepared by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and filed in court by the United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
The case marks the first time terrorism charges have been brought publicly against someone in New York City for plotting to travel overseas to fight under the banner of the terrorist group and it intensified concerns about the global threat posed by the organization.
In recent months, the Islamic State has been able to draw on a wide range of sympathizers, from adolescent girls in London to disaffected young men in Arab nations.
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“If a person has a chance to join the Islamic State and does not go there, on judgment day he will be asked why, and it is a sin to live in the land of infidels,” he reportedly told her, according to court documents.
She hung up the phone. It is unclear if he managed to get his passport back later.
But the government’s confidential informant helped Mr. Saidakhmetov secure travel documents. In the days before he left, he told the informant that he felt that his soul was already on its way to paradise.
He stated that when he arrived in Syria he would tear up his documents, ready to start a new life.
On Wednesday morning, federal agents were waiting for him at Kennedy International Airport and arrested him as he made his way down the jetway.
Reporting was contributed by Stuart Miller.
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