Roger Sedarat

By Sam Barron From Daily Voice

Two Montclair 19-year-olds, including the son of a prominent poet, have been arrested and charged with their involvement in planning an aborted terrorist attack in Detroit on Halloween, federal authorities said.

From October 2024 through this month, Tomas Khan Jimenez-Gazelle of Montclair and Saeed Al Mureh, a Washington State resident, used encrypted messaging apps as they planned to travel to Turkey and then to Syria to join ISIS, Alina Habba, acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey said.

The two talked travel plans, physical training, weapons, including firearms and IEDs, and methods to avoid law enforcement detection while plotting acts of terrorism in the United States, Habba said. Jimenez-Gazelle took photos of himself posing in front of an ISIS flag, Habba said.

Milo Sederat is charged as being one of the co-conspirators, helping to plan the attack in Detroit. He purchased items consistent with preparing for the attack including a knife, numerous swords and tactical gear, Habba said. Sederat posted numerous anti-Semitic messages advocating violence, Habba said.

According to the New York Post, Sederat is the son of Roger Sedarat, a well known Iranian American poet and a professor at Queens College in New York City.

"Moved to tears with so much compassion from friends after so much shocking pain," the elder Sedarat wrote on Facebook.

Jimenez-Gazelle was arrested in Newark International Airport's Terminal B food court before he could board a flight to Istanbul, law enforcement sources told NBC News. Jimenez-Gazelle had been scheduled to fly to Turkey later this month, but moved up his flight following a raid at his home and storage unit in Detroit connected to the terror plot, NBC News reported.

Last week, Mohmed Ali, 20, and Majed Mahmoud, 20, were charged with their roles in the terror plot, while Ayob Nasser, 19, was arrested on the same charge Wednesday, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said.

The three men are charged with conspiring to provide material support resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, according to a criminal complaint, after they discussed wanting to conduct an attack on behalf of ISIS. Their search history included other terrorist attacks including the Boston marathon bombing, New Orleans truck attack and Pulse nightclub shooting, according to the criminal complaint.

"The FBI stopped a massacre before it could happen," FBI Director Kash Patel said. "Two Michigan men planned an ISIS-inspired Halloween terror attack near Detroit- stockpiling weapons, scouting targets, and training at gun ranges. This FBI acted fast, followed the evidence, and likely saved countless lives."