FBI Arrests Man in Connection With Alleged ISIS Sympathizer
The man allegedly came at the agents with a knife, authorities said.
— -- Self-proclaimed ISIS-sympathizer Fareed Mumuni appeared to be the kind of man who knew the FBI might come knocking one day, so he wanted to be ready to strike. This morning, he had his chance.
Counterterrorism agents arrived at Mumuni’s Staten Island home just after 6:30 a.m. to conduct a search. His mother and sister opened the door and then left. According to court records, Mumuni came down the stairs carrying a knife he later admitted he kept wrapped in a tee-shirt in his bed.
Instead of obeying commands that he move to a couch, court records said Mumuni “suddenly lunged at the officers with a large kitchen knife” and “repeatedly attempted to plunge the kitchen knife into the torso of an FBI Special Agent."
There were no serious injuries. Mumuni appeared briefly in Brooklyn federal court where he was ordered held without bail.
His defense attorney said Mumuni went to a Staten Island high school and was studying social work in college. The attorney said his family is surprised by the charges.
According to court records, Mumuni told agents he “pledged allegiance” to ISIS, intended to travel overseas to join the fight and, should that not work out, “he intended to attack law enforcement officers.”
The FBI said Mumuni also admitted to discussing a Boston Marathon-style attack with Munther Saleh, a college student arrested over the weekend in Queens on charges of conspiring to support ISIS.
Authorities became concerned after police saw Saleh on two occasions walking across the George Washington Bridge at night with a lantern.
As the investigation continued, the FBI discovered Saleh had been expressing allegiance to ISIS online. At one point, he allegedly wrote Al Qaeda was becoming “too moderate.”
The FBI said one day when they searched his apartment, they found documents suggesting specific targets in New York and the designs for a pressure cooker bomb like what was used in the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013.
ABC News reported today that the FBI is in the midst of a broad campaign to disrupt potential terrorists inspired by ISIS, with several arrests expected before July 4th.
Hundreds of investigations are underway in all 50 states. Many involve suspected ISIS supporters, authorities said.
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