NEW YORK (WABC)– A Long Island man was arrested Wednesday at JFK as he tried to board a flight to Qatar, from where he intended to travel to Syria and join ISIS, federal prosecutors said.

Syed Aman, 28, expressed support for ISIS through social media posts on an online forum, sent money to an individual he thought was an ISIS member and made arrangements to travel to Syria, according to the criminal complaint.

Last month, Aman spoke with an FBI source about his plans to join ISIS in Syria. Aman said “jihad and hijrah”, referring to traveling to IS-controlled territory and waging war in the name of IS, are “the most important thing, more than anything else in the world.” ‘current time,’ the complaint states.

The complaint quoted Aman expressing his hatred towards non-believers: “If you do not kill them, they will kill us and ruin the earth through decay. » Aman also posted on a social media platform his desire to “kill Americans” and wrote in a notebook his intention to study to become a shahid, or martyr in the name of ISIS.

Aman allegedly intended to disembark his flight in Qatar and purchase a flight from Qatar to Turkey, where he would seek to cross into Syria to join ISIS. Aman also said he would travel with a steel pen to defend himself if arrested and would attack law enforcement. A silver-plated pen was found in Aman’s shoulder bag when he was arrested, prosecutors said.

“As has been alleged, Aman was determined in his attempts to travel to the Middle East to join ISIS and, fortunately, his evil plan to wage jihad was thwarted,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace.

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