Two New Jersey residents were arrested this week in connection with an ISIS-inspired terror probe, following the earlier arrest of two suspects in Michigan, CNN reports.
Law enforcement officials confirmed Wednesday that the men were part of the same online communication group as the Michigan suspects, though not necessarily involved in the same plot.
One of the suspects, a 19-year-old from New Jersey, was taken into custody Tuesday morning at Newark Liberty International Airport. Authorities had been monitoring his movements and moved in after he advanced his flight to Turkey - a step investigators interpreted as an effort to further his plan. Officials said he intended to travel from Turkey to Syria to join the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization.
The second suspect, a 20-year-old New Jersey man, was arrested at his home. He had allegedly planned to travel to Syria alongside the first suspect.
The arrests came on the heels of a separate investigation in Michigan, where two 20-year-old men - Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud - were charged with attempting to transfer firearms and ammunition for use in a federal crime of terrorism. A third individual, a juvenile referred to as “Person 1,” has not yet been charged.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday, the FBI began tracking a man identified as “co-conspirator 1” in 2024. In June, agents followed his phone to Dearborn, Michigan, where he stayed at Ali’s home. The following month, he joined a group call from overseas with five others, including an FBI confidential source who recorded the conversation.
During the call, participants allegedly discussed traveling to Syria to join ISIS. Co-conspirator 1 reportedly said they were “gonna die there … unless the Amir sends you to Paris for a 2015” - a reference FBI experts interpreted as a nod to the 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris that killed over 130 people.
The complaint also cites a participant saying, “Athari and Bukhari said they were going to stay back and do the ‘same thing as France,’” with co-conspirator 1 adding, “Knowing Athari, it’s probably going to be at like a club, a disco.”
Federal agents, concerned an attack could be imminent, intensified surveillance. In the early hours of October 31, they raided the suspects’ homes in a Detroit suburb, using smoke bombs before making arrests.