A Texas man is in FBI custody on Thursday after authorities say he tried to help ISIS and deliberate a terrorist assault on American soil – all from his condo in Houston.
Authorities mentioned 28-year-old Anas Stated was trying to find methods to commit violent acts on behalf of the Islamic State within the Houston space. He has been charged with trying to offer materials help to the terrorist group.
Stated was arrested final week on the condo advanced the place he lived, in keeping with FBI Particular Agent in Cost Douglas Williams.
FBI SAC Doug Williams addresses the media from the Houston subject workplace on Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle through Getty Photographs)
Williams mentioned that whereas in custody, Stated admitted to researching how one can conduct an assault on native navy recruiting facilities, providing his residence as sanctuary for ISIS operatives, bragging that he would commit a “9/11-style” assault if he had the sources and trying to supply ISIS propaganda.
“We stopped a potential terrorist attack from happening right here in Houston! Any day we can publicly say that is a good day,” FBI Houston mentioned.
A detention listening to is scheduled for Thursday afternoon in federal courtroom in Houston.
READ THE DOJ DETENTION MEMO LAYING OUT ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SAID – APP USERS, CLICK HERE:
Stated has been on the FBI’s radar because the bureau acquired a tip in 2017 about him buying two stickers: “one containing an image of the Dome of the Rock2 with an ISIS flag overlaying the image, and another showing the white silhouette of a man holding a rifle with the caption, “Profitable the Islamic Nation.” Said was interviewed by the FBI four times in 2018 in relation to the sticker purchases.
“Throughout an interview performed on or about January 29, 2018, the Defendant admitted each stickers had been meant to indicate help for ISIS,” though he did not support killing in the name of ISIS at the time, according to a detention memo laying out the allegations against Said. Said began supporting the ISIS ideology in 2015 when his family returned to the U.S. from Lebanon.
In a 2019 FBI interview, Said claimed “he now not consumed radical Islamic propaganda and solely used the web for schoolwork and for watching sports activities,” according to the memo.
That wasn’t true, according to the DOJ.
“On or about October 18, 2023, pursuant to authorized course of, FBI acquired info from Meta Platforms, Inc. (‘Meta’) concerning 11 Fb accounts utilized by the Defendant that confirmed he continued to help ISIS and the violent assaults carried out in its title,” according to the DOJ.
His family members “expressed their issues” in FBI interviews, and “subsequent evaluation of the Defendant’s digital gadgets revealed a number of encrypted messaging functions containing information of his efforts to create and disseminate propaganda that glorified ISIS’s ongoing violence, the proof underlying the fabric help offense charged within the indictment,” the department alleged.
Said allegedly refused to comply with FBI agents who executed a search warrant against him on Nov. 8, and he smashed his cell phone.
