Federal officials on Monday arrested a New Jersey man who was allegedly plotting to provide material support to ISIS.
Alaa Saadeh, a 23-year-old man living in West New York, New Jersey planned to travel to ISIS territory to join the militant Islamist group that has taken over swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq. He also allegedly purchased a plane ticket for his brother to travel abroad and join ISIS, the Department of Justice disclosed on Monday.
“He is charged in a complaint with conspiring with other individuals in New Jersey and New York to provide services and personnel to ISIL, aiding and abetting an attempt to provide services and personnel to ISIL and attempting to persuade a witness to lie to the FBI,” the Department of Justice said in a press release.
Saadeh could face up to 20 years in prison for each count.
Saadeh’s arrest comes less than two weeks after the law enforcement officials arrested another New Jersey resident, Samuel Rahamin Topaz on similar charges. Topaz and Saadeh had discussed plans to travel overseas together to join ISIS.
Saadeh is the ninth person to be arrested in the United States this month on terrorism-related charges linked to ISIS.
After he realized he was under FBI surveillance, Saadeh told an unidentified person he knew in New Jersey to keep information from the FBI. He directed the individual to “play dumb” and be “honest up to a point” if questioned by the FBI about his or his brother’s ISIS connections.
The FBI has bolstered its counterterrorism efforts recently to combat the growing threat of youth becoming radicalized online.
