Feds say they thwarted terror plot targeting L.A. Jewish institution
An Iraqi citizen was arrested Friday for what federal authorities described as serving in two foreign terrorist organizations and attempting to attack a Jewish institution in Los Angeles.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, 32, faces multiple terrorism-related charges for allegedly working 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 incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Court records do not indicate whether Al-Saadi was represented by an attorney.
FBI Deputy Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. “In just three months, Mohammed Al-Saadi allegedly carried out 18 terrorist attacks across Europe, including against citizens and interests of the United States, and planned to carry out a similar attack here in our country,” he said in a statement.
Federal officials said Al-Saadi spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer on or about April 3 about plans to kill people in the United States. Al-Saadi allegedly attempted to coordinate and carry out terrorist attacks targeting unnamed Jewish institutions in New York, Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona, in April and this month.
Authorities said he discussed using improvised explosive devices or setting fire to the premises.
The complaint alleges that during a recorded phone call with the undercover officer on April 1, Al-Saadi asked if they knew anyone in the United States who could carry out an attack and how much they wanted to charge them. When asked what he wanted to attack, Al-Saadi allegedly said, “So we’re providing him with a Jewish temple, a Jewish center,” according to court documents.
Officials claimed that Al-Saadi was a commander of Kata’ib Hizballah, a US-designated foreign terrorist organization operating in Iraq, which cooperates closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s military and counterintelligence agency.
“Working with our law enforcement partners, we foiled a plot against a synagogue in Manhattan and, in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, secured the synagogue as the threat escalated,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said in the press release.
Federal officials said Al-Saadi worked closely with Qasem Soleimani, the IRGC-QF’s longtime commander who was killed during a U.S. airstrike in 2020.
Al-Saadi faces 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 conspiracy to provide material support for acts of terrorism, one count of conspiracy to bomb a public place, and destruction of property by fire or explosives.
The investigation is being conducted by the Department of Justice’s National Security Division and the International Narcotics Unit.
