A Brooklyn man who became a high-ranking member of ISIS was convicted of supporting the terrorist organization by recruiting members, pushing propaganda and smuggling weapons into Syria, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Mirsad Kandic, 40, was found guilty of conspiracy and providing material support to ISIS Tuesday after a three-week trial in Brooklyn federal court. He faces up to life in prison at his sentencing on Nov. 9.
Kandic is responsible for recruiting thousands of Westerners to fight in Syria and the Middle East, including Australian teenager and suicide bomber Jake Bilardi, who killed himself, more than 30 Iraqi soldiers and a policeman in Ramadi, Iraq, on March 11, 2015, officials allege.
Kandic left Brooklyn in 2013, sneaking into Syria and joining ISIS. His travel to the Middle East had been thwarted twice previously as early as 2012, by authorities who had placed him on a no-fly list, according to the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Kandic first began fighting on the ground using AK-47s and PK machine guns in the ISIS stronghold on the outskirts of Aleppo.
He then moved to Turkey, where he began helping to smuggle foreign fighters and weapons into Syria and heading ISIS media there — including running more than 120 Twitter accounts with the purpose of attracting new recruits and spreading gruesome propaganda, the feds said.
Kandic also gave battlefield intelligence and maps to the terror group commanders and fighters. He helped dig tunnels under the Turkey-Syria border that moved nearly 1,000 fighters, prosecutors say.
He also managed money for ISIS fighters and smuggled weapons into Syria, prosecutors say.
Kandic worked for ISIS in the Middle East from 2013 until he was arrested in Bosnia in 2017. He was extradited to the US in November that year.
“Kandic was a high-ranking member of ISIS who recruited countless fanatics, helping them travel to Syria and other territories to become ISIS fighters,” Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement. “In addition to fueling the front lines of the ISIS army, the defendant aided the extremist group in many other ways, including by providing weapons and spreading its violent propaganda across the globe, to further its bloody and brutal terrorist campaign.”
“Kandic’s actions were directly linked to attacks and significant loss of life,” Peace said.
Kandic’s criminal defense attorneys didn’t immediately return a request for comment.