Uzbek National Extradited to NYC After Decade on the Run for ISIS Support

Davud Ansariy, 41, has been extradited to New York City to face charges related to his alleged leadership of a group that supported ISIS and the Al-Nusrah Front. Ansariy, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Uzbekistan, had been on the run for a decade after departing the U.S. for Turkey in May 2016.

He was apprehended in Georgia and arrived at JFK Airport, where he was taken into custody by FBI and NYPD agents. He appeared in Brooklyn federal court and was held without bail. Ansariy faces a maximum of 35 years in prison if convicted on charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorist organizations.

According to federal prosecutors, Ansariy led a crew that called itself the “tea party” or “chayxona,” an Uzbek term for “tea house.” Between 2014 and 2016, the group allegedly raised funds for aspiring members of ISIS and the Al-Nusrah Front. The indictment claims that Ansariy and his associates funded the travel of at least three individuals to Syria, where they are believed to have been killed.

Prosecutors also allege that Ansariy raised money for Akhror Saidakhmetov, a co-conspirator arrested in 2015. Saidakhmetov had reportedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and expressed intentions to carry out violent attacks in the U.S. if he could not travel to Syria, including assassinating police and FBI agents and bombing Coney Island. Another alleged member of the group, Abdulrasul Hasanovich Juraboev, reportedly discussed assassinating then-President Barack Obama and planting a bomb on Coney Island.

Ansariy has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His court-appointed lawyer could not be reached for immediate comment.