Alleged Delaware-ISIS link cited in Homeland Security funding debate
Discovery of an alleged terrorist plot supported in part by a network of shopping mall kiosks in Dover and elsewhere has quickly become ammunition in a Congressional battle over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
Delaware's part in Abror Habibov's small-scale operation emerged Thursday, a day after Justice Department officials announced his arrest in Florida and the arrests of two accused co-conspirators and aspiring ISIS and ISIL soldiers in New York. Investigators said that Habibov appeared to have funded terror-related activities through kiosks for cell phone repair and sports memorabilia sales from Florida to Philadelphia.
A lawyer for Habibov has not responded to questions about the case.
"The arrest of three men planning to travel to Syria to fight for the extremist, jihadist group ISIS, one of whom had ties to Delaware, proves to us that we have pass a clean Department of Homeland Security bill now," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in a statement. "It's harrowing to know that someone who lived and worked in Dover so sympathizes with ISIS has gone so far as to organize and fund the travel to Syria to join their ranks."
Funding for Homeland Security expires on Friday. The Senate is expected to pass a funding bill before then, but the House may take up a stop-gap measure. Without an agreement by both chambers, 30,000 Homeland Security employees will be furloughed, with another 200,000 expected to work without pay.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said on Thursday that ending of the Homeland Security funding impasse was crucial. The comments came a day after a classified briefing by DHS and FBI officials, focused on the threats posed by lone wolf terrorists in all 50 states, how they're being monitored, who is encouraging them and funding them.
"The worst option would be to allow to cut off funding all together for this department at a time when we need them more than ever," Carper said.
"It's not just having people try to cross our borders, it's not just folks trying to traffic in illegal drugs and human trafficking, it's not just folks trying to use the internet to bring down our economy, bring down our electric grid, bring down our financial system, steal our intellectual property," Carper said. "It's not just lone wolves, it's not just jihad organizations world-wide. It's all of the above."
DHS funding has become tangled in a dispute between Democrats and Republicans over President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration. Democrats want to separate the two.
Coons said that approval of the agency's funding would increase grants for local law enforcement and public safety agencies as well.
Dover police Cpl. Mark Hoffman on Thursday said local authorities were alerted by the FBI last year that Habibov, 30, ran a cellphone repair kiosk at the Dover Mall and was the target of an investigation.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at (302) 463-3344 or jmontgomery@delawareonline.com