FBI Director Kash Patel says a “potential terrorist attack,” allegedly targeting Halloween weekend in Michigan, was thwarted by the FBI on Friday morning.
Five people between the ages of 16 and 20 were arrested Friday, CBS News has learned. Authorities say they were inspired by a former member of the Michigan Army National Guard who was arrested in May for allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired attack against a U.S. Army site in suburban Detroit. Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, was accused of providing support for a planned attack on the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command facility at the Detroit Arsenal.
One or more members of the group of five young people arrested Friday may have known Said, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
The plot, however, was not well formed, and the FBI was monitoring an online discussion about the plot for a period of time. There was no concrete plan for an attack.
“Through swift action and close coordination with our local partners, a potential act of terror was stopped before it could unfold,” Patel said in a statement on social media. “The vigilance of this FBI prevented what could have been a tragic attack — and thanks to their dedication, Michigan will have a safe and happy Halloween.”
A spokesperson for the FBI field office in Detroit told CBS News that FBI agents were in the cities of Dearborn and Inkster on Friday, “conducting law enforcement activities.” They did not offer any additional information on the investigation but said there is “no current threat to public safety.”
The law enforcement source said an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force member had apparently uncovered two teenagers on an online ISIS chat room in some kind of discussion, but that no real plot materialized.
Members of the FBI task force were photographed outside a home in Dearborn on Friday morning.
Sources said the FBI had not shared specific details of the operation with Dearborn city authorities, but city officials were informed a few hours in advance that an operation would be conducted in the neighborhood where it occurred.
JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
The Dearborn Police Department said in a post on Facebook that it’s aware that the FBI conducted operations in the city on Friday morning.
“We want to assure our residents that there is no threat to the community at this time,” the police department’s post said.
Dearborn borders Detroit, about 7 miles west of downtown. Inkster is a suburb located about 12 miles west of downtown Detroit.
,
Anna Schecter,
Pat Milton and
Ed O’Keefe
contributed to this report.
