‘Major’ Halloween terror plot thwarted by FBI involved links to ISIS, ‘LGBTQ+ community’: DOJ
Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
The investigation began when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official found alarming terror-related images and searches on a phone of one of the co-conspirators after they returned to the U.S. from traveling abroad.
Prosecutors say that messages between the co-conspirators show references to other terror attacks that they wanted to emulate. The alleged plot was targeting innocents in the Ferndale suburb of Detroit.
“Many of the clubs and bars in this area intentionally attract members of the LGBTQ+ community,” read the complaint.
One of the co-conspirators also allegedly wanted to go to Syria to join ISIS and was trying to persuade the others to follow.
Five men were questioned by law enforcement, and two were released.
On Sunday, Amir Makled, an attorney for one of the suspects, said he had reviewed the matter and claimed there had been no plot, just a group of young gamers.
“I don’t know where this hysteria and this fearmongering came from,” said Makled.
“If these young men were on forums that they should not have been on or things of that nature, then we’ll have to wait and see,” he added. “But I don’t believe that there’s anything illegal about any of the activity they were doing.”
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