U.S. authorities have arrested a third New York man in connection with an alleged plot to detonate pressure cooker bombs in New York City for the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS.
The latest arrest involved a 21-year-old Staten Island man named Fareed Mumuni who allegedly tried to kill a law enforcement official who came to his house earlier today. The criminal complaint alleged that he repeatedly attempted "to stab an FBI Special Agent with a large kitchen knife."
The complaint alleges that Mumuni had been working with another man, Munther Omar Saleh of Queens, and one unnamed co-conspirator to plot attacks against New York targets. The criminal complaint released this afternoon says FBI agents arrived at Mumuni's residence with a search warrant at 6:30 this morning. His mother and sister let the officers in and during the search Mumuni allegedly ignored officers' commands to stay on a couch and lunged at them with a large kitchen knife. The complaint says he tried to stab an FBI agent but the agent's body armor protected his torso and he suffered only minor injuries.
Mumuni was arrested, waived his right to remain silent, and allegedly told officers he had pledged allegiance to ISIS and intended to travel to Syria to join them. He also said that today's attack was premeditated and that he kept the knife he used to attack the FBI agent wrapped in a t-shirt in his bed for just such an occasion.
He also allegedly admitted to discussing the construction of a pressure cooker bomb with Saleh.
In the Mumuni criminal complaint released today, officials said Saleh also waived his right to remain silent and told investigators that he was a "full-fledged" member of ISIS, and allegedly said Mumuni was one as well.
Saleh allegedly said Mumuni planned to travel to Syria and expressed an interest in attacking members of law enforcement who had been tracking him. In an intercepted phone call Saleh purportedly told Mumuni to use a bomb and then attack police afterward by, for example, running over them with a car. Saleh was arrested on June 13 shortly after allegedly attempting to attack a law enforcement officer with a knife.
Saleh was arrested with an unnamed co-conspirator on June 13th after what authorities said was an attempted attack on police officers who had been following him in a cruiser.
ISIS has called on followers to attack police and military targets where they live if they can't travel to Syria to join the group there.
NPR has compiled a list of all known cases in the U.S. involving individuals with suspected links to the Islamic State. We found more than 60 cases and are updating the list as more arise.
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