The DOJ announced in a press release that Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, of Melvindale, a community near Dearborn, has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device.
“The arrest of this former soldier is a sobering reminder of the importance of our counterintelligence efforts to identify and disrupt those who would seek to harm our nation,” said Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command.
“We urge all soldiers to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to their chain of command, as the safety and security of our Army and our nation depends on our collective efforts to prevent insider threats.”
According to the criminal complaint, Said allegedly informed two undercover law enforcement officers of the plan he had concocted to conduct a mass shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility at the Detroit Arsenal.
Last month, the two undercover officers indicated to Said that they intended to carry out his plan at the direction of ISIS.
Officials said he then provided “armor-piercing ammunition and magazines for the attack, flying his drone over TACOM to conduct operational reconnaissance, training the undercover employees on firearms and the construction of Molotov cocktails for use during the attack, and planning numerous details of the attack including how to enter TACOM and which building to target.”
Said was arrested after he had traveled to an area near TACOM and allegedly launched his drone in support of the planned attack, attempting to carry out his plan on the same day he was arrested.
“ISIS is a brutal terrorist organization which seeks to kill Americans,“ said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. for the Eastern District of Michigan. ”Helping ISIS or any other terrorist organization prepare or carry out acts of violence is not only a reprehensible crime—it is a threat to our entire nation and way of life.”
Said was expected to make his initial court appearance on May 14. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it would ask the court to hold him in pretrial detention because of his danger to the community and the risk that he could flee.
Sue J. Bai, head of the DOJ’s National Security Division, said it was thanks to law enforcement that the attack was foiled “before lives were lost.”
“We will not hesitate to bring the full force of the Department to find and prosecute those who seek to harm our men and women in the military and to protect all Americans,” she said.
Based on the charges in the complaint, Said faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count if convicted, according to the DOJ.
