(NewsNation) — A 28-year-old man was indicted for trying to provide material support to ISIS, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
The FBI in Houston announced the arrest on X, saying the suspect, Anas Said, “by his own admission,” was “planning a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.”
Said was arrested on Nov. 8 at the West Houston, Texas apartment complex where he lived.
Investigators with FBI Houston’s Joint Terrorism Task Force said the 28-year-old was looking for ways to commit violent acts on ISIS’ behalf.
Authorities allege Said was researching how to conduct an attack on local military recruiting centers; offering his home as safe sanctuary to ISIS operatives; bragging he would commit a “9/11-style” attack if he had the resources; and attempting to produce ISIS propaganda.
Specifically, Said allegedly created and edited at least five videos and two images, Alamdar S. Hamdani, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas said, according to the Houston Chronicle. Videos showed large groups of armed men, some of them participating in gun battles, as well as phrases glorifying ISIS, as well as pictures showing the number of people killed and wounded in the group’s operations.
Said first came to the FBI’s attention in 2017, when agents received a tip about him buying stickers with ISIS imagery, the Houston Chronicle reported. In one of at least four interviews he had since 2018, Said claimed he started “started believing in ISIS’s ideology,” The Houston Chronicle wrote.
If convicted, Said could get a sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
