An Uzbek man arrested in the United States on suspicion of links to ISIS

A 33-year-old Uzbek man was detained in the United States on suspicion of links to ISIS. The man stayed in the country for two years before his arrest - they only became interested in him after Uzbekistan’s application to Interpol, reports a Podrobno.uz correspondent.

According to NBC News, Javohir Attoev crossed the border into Arizona in February 2022. Then the border service detained him, but soon released him on bail, since there was no negative information about him.

In May 2023, Uzbekistan issued an international notice that Attoev was wanted in his homeland for alleged links to ISIS. He was found only in March of this year, almost a year after Attoev applied for asylum. Immigration service agents arrested him on April 17 in Baltimore.

A trial will take place next week where immigration control lawyers will seek his detention to obtain information about his links to the terrorist organisation.

As a result of this arrest, the US Department of Homeland Security began to worry about the number of individuals associated with terrorist organizations, and disputes arose about the budget to be allocated to ensure domestic security.

“What worries me is that over the last decade our counterterrorism budgets have been cut dramatically. That means we have fewer analysts doing the work. So it is harder to do things in a timely manner when you have fewer resources,” the former Ministry employee Elisabette Neumann shared.

She also added that after the fall of the Afghan government in 2021, ISIS has again become a threat to global stability. She recalled that the Islamic State Khorasan, an affiliate of the group, claimed responsibility for a deadly terrorist attack using firearms in the Moscow region in March.

However, Attoev's involvement in the terrorist group has not yet been officially confirmed. According to the authorities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is searching for information about him and conducting interrogations.