IDAHO
A federal judge today sentenced terrorist Fazliddin Kurbanov, an Uzbek national, to 25 years for conspiring and attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization and possessing an unregistered destructive device, according to authorities.
Kurbanov, 33, had animosity toward the U.S. military and wanted to target U.S. military bases in Idaho and Texas, according to authorities.
U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge of Idaho also fined Kurbanov $25,000.
Kurbanov, who was convicted in August 2015 after a 20-day trial, will also face deportation proceedings at the end of his prison sentence, officials said.
“Fazliddin Kurbanov was sentenced for conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and procuring bomb-making materials in the interest of executing a terrorist attack on American soil,” said Assistant Attorney General John Carlin.
According to evidence presented at trial:
Between the summer of 2012 and his arrest in May 2013, Kurbanov, an Uzbek national living in Boise, communicated by email and Skype with a person or persons operating a website for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan or IMU, a terrorist organization.
Kurbanov discussed with the website administrator his animosity toward Americans, particularly the military; his desire to build a bomb; possible targets in the United States, including military bases in Idaho and Texas – and his need for instruction on how to construct and remotely detonate a bomb.
Additionally, Kurbanov searched for and later discussed with an FBI confidential human source targets including military bases in the United States, specifically West Point Military Academy in New York, officials said.
The website administrator asked the defendant to obtain a specific anti-virus software to protect the IMU’s website and to obtain and provide any amount of money.
The defendant contacted his brother, who lived in Kyrgyzstan, about obtaining the anti-virus software and he sent the software to Kurbanov, according to authorities.
Shortly before his arrest, the defendant caused an Idaho corporation to open, through which he intended to funnel money to the IMU.
Between at least Nov. 15, 2012, and May 16, 2013, officials said Kurbanov possessed bomb-making components at his Boise apartment, including a hollow hand grenade, a hobby fuse, ammunition containing smokeless powder, tannerite, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate, charcoal, yellow sulfur powder and fertilizer.
He purchased these items during the summer and fall of 2012.
FBI special agents observed the bomb-making components during a court-authorized search of Kurbanov’s apartment in November 2012 and seized many of the same items during a second court-authorized search in May 2013, authorities said.
Kurbanov’s activities were closely monitored by federal agents during the investigation and no terrorist attack occurred.
In addition, officials said Kurbanov faces a separate one-count indictment in federal court in Utah alleging that from about Jan. 14, 2013, continuing through Jan. 24, 2013, he taught and demonstrated how to make explosive devices, and distributed information relating to the manufacture and use of an explosive or weapon of mass destruction.
His alleged intent was that the teaching, demonstration and information be used for, and in furtherance of, an activity that would constitute a federal crime of violence, officials said.
The Utah indictment was returned in May 2013, at the same time as the Idaho indictment.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force with assistance from the Boise Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Ada County, Idaho, Sheriff’s Office and the Canyon County, Idaho, Sheriff’s Office.