A former member of the Michigan Army National Guard was charged Wednesday after prosecutors say he tried to attack a military base in Warren on behalf of the Islamic State.
Federal prosecutors described how investigators thwarted an alleged attack by Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, 19, of Melvindale in the latest terrorism case involving a Metro Detroit man and ISIS.
Said was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device. He is expected to make an initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Detroit during which prosecutors say they will seek his detention, calling him a danger to the community and a flight risk.
Federal court records and prosecutors describe an undercover investigation that culminated Tuesday with Said's arrest after he launched a drone to carry out an attack at the U.S. Army’s Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) facility at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren.
“ISIS is a brutal terrorist organization which seeks to kill Americans," Interim U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said in a statement. "Helping ISIS or any other terrorist organization prepare or carry out acts of violence is not only a reprehensible crime — it is a threat to our entire nation and way of life. Our office will not tolerate such crimes or threats, and we will use the full weight of the law against anyone who engages in terrorism."
TACOM manages the Army's ground equipment supply chain, which covers approximately 60 percent of the Army's equipment.
"If a Soldier drives it, shoots it, wears it or eats it, we sustain it," the TACOM website reads.
TACOM also serves as an economic catalyst in Michigan. In fiscal year 2022, Michigan received $6.3 billion in contract capture from the U.S. Defense Department, a $1.3 billion increase from 2019, according to the Michigan Defense Center.
Said enlisted in the National Guard in September 2022 and attended initial basic training at Fort Moore in Georgia. He later reported to the National Guard Armory in Taylor and was discharged in December 2024.
Prosecutors allege Said hatched a plan to conduct an armed attack and mass shooting at TACOM. Last month, FBI undercover agents, posing as ISIS supporters, told Said they intended to carry out his attack at the direction of ISIS. In response, Said provided assistance, including using a drone to provide operational reconnaissance and surveillance at TACOM, according to the criminal case.
Said also offered to provide armor-piercing ammunition, according to the government, and train the undercover FBI agents to use weapons and Molotov cocktails.
The attack was scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Yesterday morning, Said arrived at a park in Dearborn dressed in black and met with an FBI undercover agent, prosecutors allege.
Said and one of the undercover agents drove to an unspecified location near TACOM where Said launched the drone, according to the FBI. He was arrested minutes later.
The roots of the investigation date to June 2024 when Said started communicating with an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS supporter.
“…Said described his longstanding desire to engage in violent jihad, either by traveling to ISIS-held territory abroad or by carrying out an attack in the United States," an FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit filed in court Wednesday.
The next month, Said boarded a military aircraft as part of his duties with the National Guard. Before boarding, he had to relinquish his iPhone.
FBI agents obtained a search warrant for the phone and found a Facebook message in Arabic from October 2023 between Said and someone in the Palestinian territories, according to the court filing.
“I want to go for Jihad,” Said wrote, according to the FBI.
“Agents also determined during the search that said was a member of multiple channels in the encrypted messaging application Telegram, one of which contained videos and images with ISIS flags,” the FBI agent wrote in the affidavit.
One month later, in August 2024, an undercover FBI agent introduced Said to an individual who could facilitate travel to ISIS-held territory overseas, the government alleged.
The three later met as the FBI secretly recorded with audio and video equipment.
“During the meeting, Said indicated he was ‘fed up with this country’…and ‘so, by God, I want to go for jihad,’” according to the affidavit. “’Go to fight among the Muslims and raise the word of God and that’s it. My last intention is martyrdom for the sake of God.' ”
During the meeting, Said touted his National Guard training, which included using firearms, throwing grenades and assembling/disassembling an AR-15-style rifle with his eyes closed, the FBI alleged.
Said was charged seven months after FBI counterterrorism investigators arrested a northern Michigan man accused of threatening people at TACOM by mailing a former boss a decapitated doll head and vowing to kill at least four other coworkers.
Those allegations were contained in documents charging 54-year-old Tawas City resident Joseph Casimiro with mailing threatening communications, a felony that carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Casimiro, a former contract specialist at the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), was charged amid an increase in threats against politicians, public officials and employees in local, state and federal government. At the time, he was the 98th person charged with threatening a public official in 2024, according to National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center researchers Pete Simi of Chapman University and Seamus Hughes of the University of Nebraska.
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