FBI arrests suspect planning "9/11-style" attack in US

A 28-year-old man from Houston is in custody after allegedly plotting “9/11-style” terrorist attack, researching assaults on military recruitment centres and offering shelter to ISIS operatives.

According to the FBI, Anas Said 28, admitted to orchestrating the attack from his apartment in the far west of Houston, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

Thus, officials stated that Said also confessed to researching potential assaults on local military recruitment centres, offering his residence as a safe haven for ISIS operatives, boasting that he would carry out a “9/11-style” attack if he had sufficient resources, and attempting to produce ISIS propaganda.

Said reportedly created five videos and two images for distribution. Authorities noted that he became increasingly radicalised following the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas against Israel.

Said was apprehended last week, officials confirmed.

“Today is a great day. We have taken a suspected terrorist off the streets of Houston,” said Douglas Williams, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Houston division.

Williams noted that Said had been monitored by the FBI Houston Joint Terrorism Task Force since 2017.

The arrest and details of the planned attack were disclosed during a news conference on November 14 morning. Said was detained on November 8, and officials reported that he attempted to destroy his mobile phone by throwing it to the ground just before his arrest.

Said was born in Houston but moved with his family to Lebanon shortly after birth, where he lived until 2014.

By Aghakazim Guliyev