An Iraqi national was arrested Friday for what federal authorities have described as serving in a role with two foreign terrorist organizations and attempting to carry out an attack on a Jewish institution in Los Angeles.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, is facing several terrorism-related charges alleging that he worked with Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
The federal Bureau of Prisons says he is currently jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Court records do not indicate whether Al-Saadi is represented by an attorney.
“In the span of just three months, Mohammad Al-Saadi allegedly directed 18 terrorist attacks throughout Europe — including against United States citizens and interests — and planned to conduct a similar attack here in our country,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said in a statement.
Federal authorities said Al-Saadi spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer on or about April 3 regarding his plans to kill people in the United States. Al-Saadi allegedly attempted to coordinate and carry out terrorist attacks targeting undisclosed Jewish institutions in New York, Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Ariz., in April and this month.
Officials said he discussed using an improvised explosive device or setting the locations on fire.
During a recorded phone call with the undercover officer on April 1, Al-Saadi allegedly asked if they knew someone who could carry out attacks in the United States and how much they would want to be paid, the complaint says. When asked what he wanted to attack, Al-Saadi allegedly said, “I mean, we provide him with a Jewish temple, a Jewish center,” according to court documents.
Authorities alleged Al-Saadi is a commander for Kata’ib Hizballah, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization operating in Iraq that is closely aligned with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian military and counterintelligence agency.
“Working with our law enforcement partners, we disrupted a plot against a Manhattan synagogue, and in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, ensured its security when the threat was elevated,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said in the release.
Federal officials said Al-Saadi worked closely with Qasem Soleimani, the longtime commander of the IRGC-QF who was killed during a U.S. airstrike in 2020.
Al-Saadi is facing two counts of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, one count of conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism, one count of provision of material support for acts of terrorism, one count of conspiracy to bomb a place of public use and one count of destruction of property by means of fire or explosive.
The prosecution is being handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of National Security and International Narcotics Unit.
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