US citizen busted as he was planning to join IS in Libya

A man from Ohio was arrested at the Columbus airport Monday while he was boarding a flight on his way to join ISIS, US federal prosecutors said.

The man, Aaron Travis Daniels, 20, of Columbus — also known as Harun Muhammad and Abu Yusuf — admitted having sent money to an intermediary for ISIS recruiter Abu Issa al-Amriki and having planned to travel to Libya “for the purpose of joining” the terrorist group, the FBI said in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

“He’s accused of paying money that was intended to go to a foreign terrorist organization — in this case [ISIS],” U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman said in a brief news conference outside court Monday.

“And then further, he was accused of attempting to provide himself as a fighter” for ISIS, he added according to the NBC News.

Daniels was held without bond on charges of knowingly providing and attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He could face 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if he’s convicted. No attorney was listed in court documents.

The FBI said it arrested Daniels as he was boarding a flight Monday morning to Houston at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. According to the complaint, he planned to make his journey through Houston to Trinidad & Tobago and Tunisia so he wouldn’t arouse suspicion, according to the NBC News report.