Kash Patel says FBI thwarted alleged ‘terrorist attack’ in Michigan

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has announced that it disrupted an alleged “terrorist attack” in the northern state of Michigan.

Few details were released about the operation or the suspects involved. In a social media post on Friday, FBI Director Kash Patel pledged to reveal more information later on.

“This morning the FBI thwarted a potential terrorist attack and arrested multiple subjects in Michigan who were allegedly plotting a violent attack over Halloween weekend,” he wrote.

“Thanks to the men and women of FBI and law enforcement everywhere standing guard 24/7 and crushing our mission to defend the homeland.”

Patel did not specify which part of Michigan the FBI operation took place in. But in a separate social media post on Friday, the police department for the city of Dearborn noted that FBI agents had been active in its community.

“The Dearborn Police Department has been made aware that the FBI conducted operations in the city of Dearborn earlier this morning,” the department wrote. “We want to assure our residents that there is no threat to the community at this time.”

Located in southeast Michigan, near Detroit, Dearborn is known as the headquarters for the Ford Motor Company, and it is the first city in the US to have an Arab American majority.

FBI and state police were seen near Dearborn’s Fordson High School as well as a house.

The FBI was also seen in nearby Inkster, another Detroit suburb, investigating a storage facility, according to The Associated Press.

Figures close to the investigation told the news agency, on condition of anonymity, that the FBI was looking into a plot allegedly inspired by ISIL (ISIS). The suspects, they said, were believed to have been “radicalised” online.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has since acknowledged the FBI’s efforts in a statement posted online.

“This morning, I was briefed by Director Patel on the thwarted potential terrorist attack in our state,” she wrote. “As details continue to develop, I am grateful for the swift action of the FBI and MSP protecting Michiganders.”

This is not the first time the FBI under Patel’s tenure has claimed to have thwarted a “terrorist”-related incident in the state.

On May 14, the FBI announced it was involved in efforts to arrest Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, a former member of the Michigan National Guard.

According to a US government statement, Said told undercover agents he had a plan to perpetrate a mass shooting against a US army base in Warren, Michigan, on behalf of the group ISIL (ISIS).

When the agents offered to help him carry out the plan, he allegedly provided them with ammunition, drone surveillance and training, as well as operational details for the attack.

He was arrested on May 13 and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation and distributing information about a destructive device.

Patel was sworn in as FBI director on February 21, at the nomination of US President Donald Trump.

During Trump’s second term as president, his administration has sought to expand the use of “terrorist” designations to include Latin American gangs and the loosely knit antifascism movement, antifa.