Three more people have been charged in connection with an alleged ISIS-inspired Halloween attack that the FBI said it had thwarted last week, federal prosecutors in New Jersey and Michigan announced on Wednesday.
Two New Jersey teenagers have been arrested in connection with the alleged plot — Tomas Kaan Guzel and Milo Sedanet, both 19 — law enforcement sources told ABC News. Guzel was arrested before he could board a flight to Istanbul, the sources said.
New Jersey acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said her office charged both of them by federal criminal complaint on Tuesday. Guzel is charged with conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organization and Sedanet is charged with transmitting interstate threats, she said.
Another 19-year-old — Ayob Nasser, of Dearborn, Michigan — was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday in connection with the alleged plot, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said.
That follows the arrest on Friday of two other men from Dearborn — Nasser’s brother, Mohmed Ali, and Majed Mahmoud — according to court filings.
The three Michigan men have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and having firearms that would be used to commit an act of terrorism on behalf of ISIS, prosecutors said.
According to the amended 92-page complaint that newly charges Nasser, the men purchased firearms, firearm accessories and ammunition in recent months and had been practicing shooting at gun ranges to allegedly “develop their firearms skills in furtherance of an attack.”
The men allegedly “used online encrypted communications and social media applications to share extremist and ISIS-related materials that encourage attacks similar to what they planned,” and allegedly used the term “pumpkin” for their plans, according to the complaint.
In mid-September, the three Michigan men are believed to have been allegedly scouting locations for a possible attack, according to the complaint.
Ali, Mahmoud and an unidentified juvenile went to an area of Ferndale, Michigan, known for clubs, and Ali had searched for clubs that “intentionally attract members of the LGBTQ+ community” as well as information on the 2016 shooting at the gay Orlando nightclub Pulse, according to the complaint.
Around the same time, Nasser and another unidentified juvenile traveled to an amusement park 3 hours from Dearborn, according to the complaint. Someone used a computer apparently shared by Nasser and Ali to search “is it crowded on halloweekend” at the amusement park, according to the complaint.
The complaint did not name the amusement park, though Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, confirmed in a statement to ABC Detroit affiliate WXYZ that the individuals “were recently observed on park property” and that it assisted the FBI in the investigation.
“The safety and security of our guests and associates is a top priority,” Cedar Point said in a statement. “Although there was no substantiated threat to the park, guests or associates, Cedar Point’s advanced security and surveillance capabilities provided important additional information to investigators. Together with additional third-party experts, the park took immediate and appropriate action to ensure the continued safety of all on property.”
According to sources, an NYPD undercover officer had been monitoring Guzel, who was allegedly in communication with those arrested in Michigan and others overseas. The group allegedly talked about an attack on the LGBTQ community in Detroit and about traveling to Syria to train with ISIS, sources said.
Guzel allegedly had planned to travel in two weeks to Turkey and onward to Syria from there, but it’s believed he got spooked after last week’s arrests and moved his flight up, sources said.
Habba said in a video statement on X that he planned to travel with an individual from Kent, Washington, and that the two “pledged themselves to ISIS and were plotting acts of terrorism in our country.”
Evidence against Guzel includes messages with photographs of him “standing in front of the ISIS flag holding a knife,” Habba said.
There were searches at his home in Montclair and also in Seattle as part of the investigation, the sources said.
Habba said the complaint against Sedanet “describes a pattern of antisemitic messages advocating violence along with images and purchases consistent with preparation for attack, including a knife and sword collection tactical gear and images of him practicing at a gun range.”
