WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A man from the US state of Wisconsin was arrested after traveling back from Turkey for allegedly attempting to join the Islamic State (IS), the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement on Thursday.
“Joshua Ray Van Haften, 34, of Madison, Wisconsin, has been charged with attempting to provide material support and resources, namely himself as personnel, to a foreign terrorist organization,” the DOJ statement read.
“Van Haften intended to travel into Iraq or Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).”
Haften was arrested at the Chicago O’Hare Airport in Chicago on Wednesday evening after traveling back from Turkey.
On Thursday, the alleged IS supporter made his first appearance at a US District Court in Wisconsin, the DOJ said.
Haften’s arrest comes a little over a week after a woman from Pennsylvania was also arrested for trying to join the IS.
Attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization in the United States holds a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the US National Counterterrorism Center, over 20,000 foreigners from 90 countries are suspected to have joined the IS to fight for the spread of Islamic extremist ideology and establish a caliphate in the territories under its control in Syria and Iraq.
