BROOKLYN (CN) - Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Thursday that charges a Queens, N.Y., man with trying to help the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant pull off a terrorist attack against Americans.
The criminal complaint accuses Ali Saleh, 22, of repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, trying to fly to the Middle East to provide material and other support to the terrorist group known as ISIL or ISIS.
Prosecutors say Saleh posted on his Twitter account, "I'm ready to die for the Caliphate, prison is nothing" shortly before trying to board a plane bound for the Middle East from John F. Kennedy International Airport.
But Saleh didn't get to carry out his plans.
He was stopped, then repeatedly blocked by authorities from flying elsewhere, officials say.
He also tried to fly out of Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, and Philadelphia International Airport, but got stopped each time, officials say.
Saleh then scored a spot on an Amtrak train from Cleveland that would take him to Toronto, where he could then get to the Middle East and carry out his plans.
Prosecutors say Saleh was "relentless" in his attempts to join ISIL. But he's not the only resident of the New York Metropolitan area of which this is true.
Several Brooklyn youngsters have already been arrested and charged with planning to help ISIL.
A pair of female cousins in Queens were arrested in April before their plans to pull off a suicide attack for al-Qaida were stymied.
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