Editor’s note: This story has been updated with new details
Three Dearborn men arrested in an alleged terrorism plot to attack a location in Ferndale and or an amusement park over Halloween weekend have agreed to remain jailed pending the outcome of their federal case, which has now ensnared eight defendants from three separate states.
The three defendants, Mohamed Ali, 20, Majed Mahmoud, 20 and Ayob Nasser, 19, had a detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Nov. 10, during which they could have argued for bond, but chose not to.
The government has accused the men of being armed and radicalized terrorists with a plan to attack an LGBTQ+-friendly establishment in Ferndale or an amusement park, but the FBI got to them first. The defense, though, maintained there was no plan to attack anyone, and that the defendants are just kids who were engaged in tough talk over the internet, nothing else.
Since the FBI’s Halloween raids in Michigan, eight individuals from three states have been arrested and charged with being part of an alleged plot to carry out terrorist attacks in the United States on behalf of ISIS. Two potential locations for the attacks included Ferndale and the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, court records state.
The defendants are:
∎ Mohamed Ali, 20, of Dearborn, who was arrested in a pre-dawn Halloween raid. He is 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.
∎ Majed Mahmoud, 20, of Dearborn, who also was arrested on Halloween and 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.
∎ Ayob Nasser, 19, of Dearborn, who was arrested on Nov. 5, is 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.
∎ Two juveniles from metro Detroit, who are being charged in a confidential process, and are accused of being part of the alleged plot to attack a location in Ferndale or an amusement park.
∎ Tomas Kaan Jimenez-Guzel, 19, of Montclair, New Jersey, who is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He allegedly said he wanted to be known as “one of the 100 most evil people in the world,” and volunteered to his cohorts that he would carry out beheadings for promotional videos if asked. According to the FBI, he had planned to travel to Turkey then Syria later this month to join and train with ISIS, but accelerated his travel plans after learning of the Dearborn arrests. He was arrested on Nov. 4 at Newark Airport, before he could board his flight to Turkey.
∎ Saed Ali Mirreh, 19, of Kent, Washington, is the alleged cohort of Jimenez-Guzel and also is charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He also had plans to travel to Turkey to join ISIS, the FBI says, but was arrested at his home on Nov. 5 before he could take off.
∎ Milo Sedarat, 19, of Montclair, New Jersey, who is accused of sending violent anti semitic threats over social media, allegedly telling an accomplice that he wanted to kill his mother’s Jewish friends, and that he hoped a second holocaust occurs. “Bro everyone hates the Jews now,” he allegedly wrote in one message. :”Bro my mom’s Jewish friends are brainwashing her,” states another messages. “I want to kill her friends.” The FBI also alleges in a criminal complaint that Sedarat sent photos of himself to an accomplice showing him holding knives and swords, and that he threatened to use those weapons against various Jewish individuals. He is charged with two counts of transmitting threats through interstate and foreign commerce.
According to court documents, the FBI has been investigating the Washington and New Jersey defendants since 2023, monitoring their conversations with the help of undercover FBI informants and agents. Another investigation would reveal that those men were talking to the Michigan defendants, court records state, though it remains unclear what the Michigan group was discussing in those encrypted chats.
In a video posted to the social media platform X, New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney Alina Habba stated that Jimenez-Guzel and Mirreh, were “connected to the Halloween terror plot in Detroit.” She did not say how they were connected, only that they had pledged support to ISIS, made antisemitic comments on the Internet, and were plotting to carry out terror attacks here in the United States.
The FBI alleges in court documents that in the last several months, the group of five Michigan defendants talked about and encouraged terrorist attacks in encrypted conversations and on social media, had access to high-powered rifles, and held training exercises as part of a bigger plot to carry out a terrorist attack in Ferndale or the amusement park over Halloween weekend.
According to court documents, at least three of the Michigan defendants had cased the amusement park and scouted various bars along Woodward Avenue in Ferndale as possible locations for an attack, and used the code word “pumpkin” when discussing an alleged Halloween plot.
“The area in Ferndale to which (they traveled in September) includes numerous bars and restaurants, including three bars/clubs identified by the FBI based on this data. All three of these clubs are located on Woodward Avenue near East Nine Mile. Many of the clubs and bars in this area intentionally attract members of the LGBTQ+ community,” states a 73-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
To date, none of the criminal complaints filed in this case mention any anti-gay text messages, social media posts or comments made by the defendants, whose communications were being secretly monitored and taped by undercover informants and agents.
Court documents filed in the cases of the New Jersey and Washington men also do not state anything about Ferndale or the amusement park. Rather, they state that those three defendants had plans to travel to Turkey and then Syria to join and train with ISIS, and that they accelerated those travel plans after learning of the FBI raids in Michigan and the arrests of the Dearborn men.
A defense lawyer for one of the Dearborn men had previously described the defendants as being video gamers and recreational gun enthusiasts who were engaged in tough talk, nothing else.
As defense attorney Amir Makled has maintained from the get-go: “There is nothing here. There was never any plot.”
The FBI disagrees.
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Three Halloween terror suspects from Dearborn agree to remain jailed; don’t seek bond
Reporting by John Wisely and Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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