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
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.”
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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.
A complaint outlining the charges against Bradley and Muthana does not mention the defendants discussing their intentions with Isis or others beyond the two undercover law enforcement officers.
Bradley sought transit to the Middle East by cargo ship because he feared he might have been on a terrorist watch list, prosecutors said.
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Muthana, of Alabama, also expressed support for Isis and discussed with Bradley plans to travel together to the Middle East to fight on behalf of the group, prosecutors said. After her arrest, she waived her right to remain silent and said she was willing to fight and kill Americans, prosecutors said.
Muthana and Bradley were married in January.
After travelling to Alabama to visit Muthana, prosecutors said, Bradley approached the undercover officer with the idea of travelling on a cargo ship to join Isis. The officer connected Bradley with a “facilitator” – another undercover officer – and Bradley paid that person US$1,000 in cash for travel costs, prosecutors said.
Bradley told that officer that he and Muthana planned to be “fighting” upon arrival Yemen and that he’d had a dream that he had given an oath of allegiance to Isis leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi prosecutors said.
