Two NJ men charged in Michigan 'terror plot'
FBI says suspects used encrypted chats
By: Amanda Wallace
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Two New Jersey men and one man from out of state were arrested November 4 [2025] in a Halloween weekend "terror plot" in Michigan, according to federal officials and several reports.
...,.
Alina Habba, acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, detailed the arrests in a video posted to X on November 5. [2025] In the video, she named Tomas Kaan Jimenez-Guzel and Milo Sedarat of Montclair, [NJ] along with a man form Kent, Washington, as those facing federal charges.
..... The men are accursed of being involved in an alleged "ISIS-inspired error plot" that authorities said was uncovered in Detroit the week before, [10/29/2025] which federal officials say was meant to copy the 2015 Paris ISIS attack, unnamed source told the New York Post.
..... FBI Director Kash Patel said on October 31 [2025] that the attack was thwarted, saying in a post on X that the FBI arrested several people "allegedly plotting a violent attack." As reported by USA Today, multiple people have been arrested and/or charged for their alleged involvement while other have been questioned and released.
..... Habba said hat since around October 4, 2024, Jimenez-Guzel and the man for Washington, along with other co-conspirators, used "encrypted messaging applications to plan travel to Turkey, and then to Syria, to join ISIS as fighters."
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In their communications, Habba said, the men discussed detailed travel plans, physical training, weapons and methods to avoid detection by law enforcement.
..... "According to the complaint they pledged themselves to ISIS and were plotting acts of terrorism in our country," Habba said, adding hat their messages included photographs of Jimenez-Guzel standing in front of the ISIS flag holding a knife and the Washington man wearing an ISIS hat.
..... Jimenez-Guzel was charged with
conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization. He was taken into custody while waiting for a flight at Newark Airport, multiple reports said, and was scheduled for an initial appearance November 5 [2025] in federal court in New Jersey.
..... The man from Washington was charged with transmitting violent, anti-semitic threats across the Internet to people in New Jersey and beyond, Habba said.
..... Sedarat, who reportedly is also form Montclair, was charged with two counts of transmitting threats to interstate and foreign commerce.
..... Habba said the complaint against Sedarat describes a pattern of "antisemitic messages, advocating violence, along with images and purchases consistent with preparation for attack, including a knife and sword collection, tactical gear, and images of him practicing at a gun range."
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Rep rots from the New York Post identify Sedarat as the son of Roger Sedarat, an award-winning Iranian American poet and a professor at Queens College in New York. Sedarat was arrested at his father's home in Montclair, sources told the Post.
..... Sedarat was also scheduled for an initial appearance November 5 [2025] in federal court in New Jersey.