Dual US–Albanian Citizen Arrested Over Alleged Support to ISIS: DOJ

Dual U.S.–Albanian national Erald Alimehmeti was arrested and charged in New York on Nov. 22 for allegedly providing material support to ISIS as well as for distributing instructions for homemade bombs, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Alimehmeti was charged by U.S. Magistrate Judge Stewart D. Aaron at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York after a joint investigation by the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which consists of the FBI New York, the NYPD, and other law enforcement partners.

The dual national was a resident of the Bronx in New York before moving to Albania in 2014, according to court documents.

In Albania, Alimehmeti was previously arrested for a weapons offense and served about four years in an Albanian prison from late 2015. He was imprisoned again in late 2020 on weapons and assault convictions.

Before his second imprisonment, according to the DOJ, Alimehmeti in 2019 and 2020 “knowingly attempted to provide ‘material support or resources’” to a foreign terrorist organization, namely ISIS.

He used numerous accounts on social media websites and encrypted applications to “train and plan for attacks on behalf of ISIS,” according to court documents. He also requested “tactical” equipment and other support, like “ballistic plates,” “magazine pouches,” and “knives,” for ISIS from an FBI source posing as an ISIS supporter.

Alimehmeti allegedly communicated with other ISIS supporters and “taught and demonstrated the making and use of an explosive, a destructive device, and a weapon of mass destruction” and also distributed information on making such weapons.

The alleged ISIS supporter faces two charges of attempted provision of material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization and distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, the DOJ said on Nov. 22.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

“As alleged, Erald Alimehmeti distributed—on pro-ISIS channels—dozens of instructional materials, including those he personally created, that describe handling firearms and making specific explosives. Alimehmeti also allegedly discussed planning and training for terrorist attacks on behalf of ISIS, provided instructions on how to spray explosives on innocent people, and went so far as to claim that ‘it’s time for a genocide,’” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said of the case.

“I commend our law enforcement partners and this office’s career prosecutors who worked tirelessly to detect and disrupt Alimehmeti’s alleged terrorist activities.”

Alimehmeti’s brother, in February 2018, pleaded guilty in the same court to attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to fraudulently procure a U.S. passport to facilitate an act of international terrorism.

He was sentenced in December 2019 to 22 years in prison.

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