Community leaders in Brooklyn say the borough's tightly-knit community of Muslim immigrants from central Asia loves America in the aftermath of the arrest of three local men on charges of supporting Islamic terrorists in Syria. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.

Farhod Sulton said he knows one of the three Brooklyn men charged with plotting to aid the Islamic State terror group.

"We had an argument with the gentleman about the understanding of, the way he understands Islam and the principles," he said.

Sultan said he had that debate a couple of years ago with Abror Habibov, a 30-year-old businessman who was arrested Wednesday in Florida.

"He wasn't crazy guy," Sultan said. "He was just normal guy who wants to build business and get ahead in life."

Prosecutors, though, said Habibov and his two co-defendants were sympathetic to the Islamic State and had threatened to carry out attacks in the U.S., even killing President Barack Obama or planting a bomb in Coney Island, if they could not join the terror group in Syria.

The three men belong to a community of immigrants from the former Soviet republics of Kazhakstan and Uzibekistan living in Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island. Community leaders said Thursday that they are hard-working and don't want to be known as haters of America. 

"Our Central Asian communities are very peaceful, and we are against any kind of terrorist or violence," said Aibek Hakimov of the Kyrgyz Club.

One of the men charged in the conspiracy worked at a Gyro King on Forest Avenue in Brooklyn. 

"He said, 'Boss, you know, tomorrow, Thursday's going to be my last day. Thursday's going to be my last day of work, and I'm going to Uzbekistan,'" said Zak Khan, the owner of Gyro King.

Community leaders said when Muslim men move to America, they are often overwhelmed with all of the freedoms in this country, and that sometimes leads to taking political and religious debates to a level that's considered criminal here.

Borough President Eric Adams said there needs to be more dialogue about expressing feelings peacefully. 

"They appear to be young, they appear to be misguided, and those who go too far must be arrested, but those who are being fed this information and we can save, we need to do all that we can to save them," Adams said.

Before they end up threatening to become terrorists.