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US police arrest eight Tajik nationals with ties to Daesh in Los Angeles, NYC

Wednesday, 12 June 2024 10:31 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 12 June 2024 10:31 AM ]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seal at its headquarters in Washington (File photo by Bloomberg)

The United States has apprehended eight people from Tajikistan who are believed to have connections to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group.

A source close to the matter revealed that the Tajik nationals entered America through its southern border last year, and were later arrested in New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.

The suspects were initially allowed to enter the US after being vetted and no national security issues were uncovered, the source said.

Their potential links to Daesh were not immediately known, however, they were under surveillance by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF).

The individuals were in custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement when they were apprehended in collaboration with the JTTF, awaiting deportation proceedings.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a statement verifying the arrests of multiple non-citizens in relation to immigration, without providing specific details. They claimed that the US is currently facing an increased level of threat.

FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized that the US is confronting increasing dangers from domestic violent extremists and foreign terrorist groups.

“The FBI and DHS will continue working around the clock with our partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt potential threats to national security,” the agencies said.

Experts believe that the US created the Daesh terrorist group and helped it rise and commence its reign of terror and destruction in Syria and Iraq in 2014.

Back in 2016, former US president Donald Trump, who as at the time a Republican presidential nominee, said in a campaign rally that ex-president Barack Obama and Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton founded Daesh.

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