'High-level ISIS member' from Brooklyn convicted of recruiting for Islamic state, smuggling guns

A Brooklyn man who became a high-level ISIS fighter was convicted of providing support for the terrorist group by recruiting members, smuggling weapons into Syria and pushing propaganda.

Mirsad Kandic, 40, faces up to life in prison after he was found guilty of six counts related to his involvement in ISIS.

"According to the testimony of 36 witnesses and evidence drawn from six continents, Kandic attempted to leave the United States to fight jihad as early as the summer of 2012," a Department of Justice press release stated on Wednesday

Kandic then went to Turkey to "to take up the role of smuggling foreign fighters and weapons into Syria from abroad, and to serve as an emir for ISIS media," the DOJ stated. He spread gruesome ISIS propaganda and recruitment messages through more than 120 Twitter accounts at this point.

A "dedicated and prolific recruiter of foreign fighters," Kandic notably recruited 18-year-old Australian Jake Bilardi to Syria in 2014 to join ISIS. Less than a year later, he went on to become a suicide bomber and killed more than 30 Iraqi soldiers, the DOJ stated.

Kandic also managed money for ISIS fighters in Syria, smuggled weapons into the country such as a rifle scope for an ISIS sniper and even operated a private market through Telegram. 

Kandic was ultimately arrested in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and found guilty after a three-week trial.