Charges against ‘Jersey Boy jihadists’ show Islamic radicalization can touch any community, Alina Habba warns
The arrest of two teens from a wealthy New Jersey suburb in connection with an alleged ISIS-terror ring shows that Islamic radicalism can creep into even the nicest towns, New Jersey’s Acting US Attorney Alina Habba warned Thursday.
“We can never believe that even in an affluent town or in New Jersey that this can’t touch us,” Habba said in an exclusive interview with The Post. “We take every single case like this seriously. Radicalization unfortunately is something that is a part of our world now.”
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On Wednesday, 19-year-old Montclair residents Tomas-Kaan Jimenez-Guzel and Milo Sedarat were both arrested for allegedly plotting ISIS-inspired terror attacks and spewing antisemitism.
“I know it’s jarring,” Habba said of the fact the pair were from the tony New York City suburb. “I understand that. I think that the citizens of the State of New Jersey should find comfort in the fact that we don’t take it for granted where we are or what the communities are.
“We will run down every single lead and every suspect of terrorist organizations regardless of that.”
The charges against the duo, and a third Washington State based suspect Saed Mirreh, were laid out in two criminal complaints that totaled 58 pages, which laid out extensive alleged communications the men had with each other for months – including plans to fly to the Middle East to build up a group of jihadists.
The suspects spoke in chats with other alleged wannabe terrorists from Finland, Sweden and the UK, according to the complaint.
“We made [the complaint] really detailed,” Habba said. “Bringing charges like this, it’s a very serious matter and we intentionally made sure that we crossed our t’s and dotted our i’s, as we do in any case in the Department of Justice and in my office.”
“We are not alarmists by any stretch of the imagination,” she said. “We are here to take serious criminals seriously and we will prosecute them.”
Mirreh and Jimenez-Guzel are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempt to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years if convicted, along with a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release.
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