Newlywed couple trying to travel by ship to join Islamic State arrested at US port

James Bradley and Arwa Muthana were taken into custody at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey

They were charged with attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation

Reading Time:2 minutes

Soldiers patrol a street in Sanaa, Yemen. File photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 3:51pm, 3 Apr 2021Updated: 3:52pm, 3 Apr 2021

A newlywed husband and wife who expressed interest in fighting for Islamic State group were arrested on Thursday at a port near New York City as they attempted to board a cargo ship that an undercover law enforcement officer said would take them to Yemen, prosecutors said.

James Bradley, 20, and Arwa Muthana, 29, were taken into custody on the gangplank at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal in New Jersey, prosecutors said. They were charged in federal court in Manhattan with attempting and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.

Bradley and Muthana made an initial court appearance on Thursday and were ordered jailed without bail. Messages seeking comment were left with their lawyers.

Manhattan US lawyer Audrey Strauss said in a statement that the couple’s “plans to wage attacks against the United States have been thwarted.”

Bradley, of the Bronx, expressed support for Isis and spoke of his desire to join the group overseas in recorded conversations over the course of nearly a year with an undercover enforcement officer, prosecutors said.

Bradley also spoke to the undercover officer who led him to the ship about potentially attacking the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, prosecutors said.