Man With 'Despicable Goal' Is Arrested Before Boarding

A Bronx man was arrested at JFK airport on Friday for allegedly planning to join the Taliban and kill US soldiers, CBS News reports. According to investigators, Delowar Mohammad Hossain was about to fly to Thailand, then Afghanistan, to fulfill his dream of killing Americans there. "I just want to take a frickin' machine gun and just shoot everybody and kill 'em all," the 33-year-old allegedly told an agent. Prosecutors say he tried to recruit a "confidential source of the FBI" to join him to Pakistan and ultimately Afghanistan, CNN reports. "Delowar Hossain had a despicable goal," says Michael McGarrity, the FBI assistant director of counterterrorism.

"He wanted to make his way to Afghanistan, join up with Taliban forces, and kill Americans," adds McGarrity. "But he failed because members of the FBI's joint terrorism task force interrupted his plans." Hossain, who was born in Bangladesh and became a US citizen, apparently told the FBI source he planned to go unnoticed by traveling from Thailand to Pakistan to Afghanistan. Prosecutors say he had already bought "trekking gear" and walkie-talkies for the journey, and told the informant to have cash ready "to buy weapons." Charged with trying to provide material support for terrorism, he faces up to 15 years in prison. It's not unusual, either: Almost 80 Americans have gone abroad to join jihadist groups since 2011. (More Taliban stories.)