A former member of the Michigan Army National Guard has been arrested after he attempted to carry out a plan in support of ISIS.
According to a release from the Department of Justice, 19-year-old Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said moved to “conduct a mass-shooting at a U.S. military base.”
The complaint on the matter says Said “informed two undercover law enforcement officers of a plan he had devised and formulated to conduct a mass-shooting at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan.” The two undercover officers suggested they were going to carry out the plan, prompting Said to provide material assistance, including “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 on the scheduled day of the attack.
“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 Commanding general of Army Counterintelligence Command Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox. “I commend the tireless work of our special agents and FBI partners who worked together to investigate and apprehend this individual. We will continue to collaborate with our partners to prevent similar incidents in the future.”
“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,” Cox added.
Similarly, three current and former U.S. Army soldiers were arrested earlier this year for their involvement in an effort that allegedly involved stealing government property, committing bribery, and selling national defense information to individuals in China.
