US federal agents have arrested eight Tajikistan nationals located in the US on immigration charges subsequent to the discovery of potential ties to terrorism, various US media have reported, citing sources familiar with the law enforcement operation.

The development reported late on June 11 is a blow to authorities in Tajikistan who, following the participation of Tajik nationals in several Islamist terror attacks abroad, have been striving to disprove the theory that the country is somewhat out of control as a top recruiting ground for terrorist groups including an affiliate of Islamic State (ISIS), Afghanistan-based Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP, or ISIS-K). The extent of the poor and repressed Central Asian nation’s difficulties with the radicalisation of Tajiks who then join terror cells were thrown into sharp focus by the March attack by gunmen on Crocus City Hall in outer Moscow, which took the lives of at least 145 people. Two months ahead of that atrocity, Central Asia expert Bruce Pannier warned in an article for bne IntelliNews of the rising prominence of Tajiks in international terrorist operations.

In late April, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office charged seven men from Central Asia—five from Tajikistan, one from Turkmenistan and one from Kyrgyzstan—with assembling a terrorist group.

The arrests in the US by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were first reported by the New York Post, with six individuals described as Russian nationals who hail from Tajikistan. Tajik work migrants who work for an extended time in Russia are quite frequently granted a Russian passport.

The apprehensions included arrests in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia, sources referred to by CNN said.

One source quoted by the broadcaster said the eight previously arrived in the US via the Southern border and were screened by US officials, but that no derogatory information in their background checks was identified at the time.

A second cited source said investigators later discovered possible links to ISIS members located overseas, which triggered the federal investigation. The method of identifying the suspects inside the US was achieved partly by the US government’s highly sensitive targeting of the communications of ISIS members abroad, the source was also reported as saying.

NBC News reported: “The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force has been aware of a potential terrorist threat originating in central Europe, and it began monitoring these men as part of that investigation, three sources say.

“While they have not been charged with a terrorist connection or plot yet, the FBI alerted ICE they should be arrested because of potential ties to ISIS, and they were arrested on immigration charges, two sources say. They are detained and face removal proceedings before an immigration judge, and they could later face terrorism-related charges, two sources say.”