Detected and neutralized
An Uzbek citizen accused of supporting terrorists has been extradited to the US after ten years on the run
**Detected and Neutralized**
Davud Ansari, a citizen of Uzbekistan and a naturalized US citizen, also known as Kozimzhon Gafurov and "Kozim," has been extradited to New York from Tbilisi after ten years on the run.
The 41-year-old Ansari was arrested in Georgia in August 2026 and was brought to John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens on September 23.
According to the publication, charges were presented to the detainee in the Brooklyn Federal Court on September 24. The court ordered him held in custody without bail. If convicted on several counts, he could face up to 35 years in prison.
"Today, we show the world that the FBI does not forget those who support terrorist organizations and evade justice by leaving the country," said James C. Barnacle Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's New York Field Office.
According to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, Ansari led a group of alleged supporters of the terrorist organizations "Islamic State" (IS) and "Jabhat al-Nusra" (organizations banned in several countries). Operating from his home in Brooklyn between 2014 and 2016, the group referred to itself as the "tea party."
According to the prosecution, the group members discussed assassinating then-US President Barack Obama, bombing Coney Island, and attacking police officers and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. They raised funds for members of the aforementioned terrorist organizations. Specifically, according to investigators, Ansari and his accomplices financed the travel of at least three individuals to Syria in 2013. All three are believed to have died.
In addition, they raised money for Akhror Saidakhmetov, a citizen of Kazakhstan, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in late 2017. He was arrested in 2015 after investigators found he had pledged allegiance to IS.
Another alleged member of the group, Abdurasul Juraboev, told the FBI that he would "plant a bomb on Coney Island" if ordered to do so by IS. He also discussed online the possibility of becoming a martyr by killing the president. "I am speaking about shooting Obama and then getting shot myself, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels," he wrote in Uzbek on an IS-affiliated website.
In May 2016, Ansari flew from the US to Turkey on a one-way ticket purchased the day before. His departure occurred five days after the arrest of one of his accomplices. Ansari had been wanted ever since.
In court, Ansari pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of attempting to provide material support to two terrorist organizations.
The case is being prosecuted by the National Security and Cybercrime Section of the Eastern District of New York.