Not-so-happily ever after: Couple arrested after planning honeymoon to join ISIS

Newlyweds from Mississippi were arrested by undercover FBI agents after planning a fake honeymoon to Europe in order to travel to ISIS-controlled Syria.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: AUGUST 13, 2015 13:08
ISIS (photo credit: INGIMAGE,JPOST STAFF)
ISIS
(photo credit: INGIMAGE,JPOST STAFF)
A newlywed couple from Mississippi was arrested at Golden Triangle Regional airport after planning to travel to Syria and join ISIS under the guise of a honeymoon vacation, CNN reported on Wednesday.
Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, and her now-husband Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, 22, claimed they were traveling to Europe for a honeymoon vacation, although the couple had made plans to enter ISIS-ruled territory from Europe by bus.
The couple booked their flights out of the small-town Golden Triangle Regional airport in Mississippi because of less rigid security restrictions which would make it easier for them to slip by unnoticed. "Small town airports have poor funding and less educated staff so it's easier to get through," said Young in her correspondence with undercover FBI agents posing as ISIS cohorts.  
Young and Dakhlalla, former students at Mississippi State University, also praised the recent attack in Chatanooga in which an Islamic gunman opened fire at  a US army base, killing five. "The number of supporters [of ISIS] are growing," they said in reference to the attack.
The couple also described their skill sets and asked how they could contribute to ISIS' efforts. "I am skilled in math and chemistry and work at an analytical lab here on college campus," Dakhlalla allegedly wrote in a message. "My partner is good at things like computer science/media...and would love to help with giving medical aid."
According to US law enforcement, Dakhlalla is the son of a local imam, and Young is the daughter of a Mississippi police officer, who recently converted to Islam. Authorities arrested them at the airport, and they remain in the custody of federal marshals, the US Justice Department said.