An alleged terrorist turncoat was indicted Tuesday on charges that he betrayed his American citizenship to provide material support to the ruthless ISIS network.
A five-count indictment was filed in Brooklyn Federal Court said Ruslan Maratovich Asainov, a naturalized American citizen who was living in Brooklyn, was giving weapons training to terrorists overseas, and had become an ISIS sniper bent on dying on the battlefield.
Officials said Asainov, 43, was born in Kazakhstan, and lived in Brooklyn between 1998 and 2013.
Prosecutors said Asainov joined ISIS in 2013 after using a one-way ticket to travel to Turkey, a common way station for entry into Syria.
He rose to the rank of “emir,” which put him in charge of training other ISIS members in weapons use.
In March 2015, Asainov asked a confidential informant to send him approximately $2,800 so he could purchase a scope for his rifle, according to the indictment. Asainov subsequently sent the informant two pictures of himself holding an assault rifle fitted with a scope.
Asainov messaged one individual, exclaiming in reference to ISIS, “we are the worst terrorist organization in the world that has ever existed,” and added that he wished to die on the battlefield.
Asainov was detained in Syria and later brought him back to Brooklyn. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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